Into The Blue
by DamonsDarkLove
Summary: After a breakdown following her parents death, Elena meets a doctor that saves her from the darkness of her despair. A year after her breakdown they are thrown back together in a most unusual way and Elena finally meets the man behind the mask and falls into a world of passion, lust, and a love that consumes them both. Will update 9/20 due to personal emergency, thanks!
1. Prologue: A Heart's Possession

_**Into The Blue**_

_A tale of passion, lust and the true power of love's insanity._

_A/N: Hello everyone, I am back! I hope there are still some of you still out there willing to read the insanity that my mind puts together and I truly hope you enjoy this tale. It will be smutty and romantic and crazy and true Delena goodness _

_**Prologue: A Heart's Possession**_

"_You only need one man to love you. But him to love you free like a wildfire, crazy like the moon, always like tomorrow, sudden like an inhale and overcoming like the tides. Only one man and all of this."_

― _C. JoyBell C_

Elena sat nervously in the silence of the small vacant waiting room and tapped her perfectly polished fingernails against the smooth polished wood of her chair. She glanced up at the oversized digital clock on the wall above the door that led to the back offices and noticed that it was now nearly ten after two. She let out a sigh and silently cursed Stefan for making her come here in the first place. What did he think that this was going to accomplish? One session here and suddenly things between them were going to be back to roses and wine just like they had started out a year before? Elena shook her head and looked down at her black stiletto's as she tapped one of them rhythmically against the plush carpeting and let out yet another frustrated sigh. Of all the possible psychiatrist's in the Northern Virginia area he had to send her here of all places. On one hand, she understood why he had sent her to this doctor and it pained her to think of the reasoning behind it, but on the other hand even Stefan should have known this was a bad idea, she definitely knew it was a bad idea.

"Ms. Gilbert?" A woman's voice called softly from the now open door just a few feet in front of her and shook Elena from her internal questioning. Elena looked up quickly and noticed a petite blonde woman standing with a yellow file folder in her hand and a pen stuck behind her ear. The woman smiled warmly at her as their eyes met and nodded toward her.

"Yes, right here." Elena said as she reached for her purse that sat at her feet. The woman stepped back and opened the door wider behind her.

"The doctor will see you now, Ms. Gilbert." She said warmly. Elena nodded, picked up her purse and then followed the woman through the door and down the long hallway that led to her doom.

Elena took a couple long deep breaths as she slowly followed the kind and soft spoken woman down the long hallway that led her to the appointment she had been both looking forward to and dreading ever since the moment she had been forced into making it nearly two weeks before. It amazed her how booked up every psychiatrist in the area had been when she had originally tried to book with someone else, but deep down she knew that no matter what, she would end up in this office at some point whether she wanted to or not.

"He's just finishing up on the phone Ms. Gilbert; can I get you some water or tea?" The blonde woman asked kindly as she paused in front of the closed oak door at the end of the hallway. Elena shook her head as she came to a stop behind her and mimicked the calm smile on the woman in front of hers face.

"No Melanie, I am fine." She said softly with a smile. Melanie nodded and then turned the doorknob and backed up as she ushered Elena in.

Elena walked slowly into the large dimly lit office and stood in silence as she watched Melanie walk over to the oak desk in front of them and set down the file folder and then smile as she quickly exited the room and closed the large oak door behind her with a click. Elena looked around the room before her and smiled as she admired the red painted walls, the dark but beautiful paintings that hung on them and the romantic antique sculptures that adorned the small tables surrounding her. The room was warm and smelled of vanilla. It reminded her more of personal den than a shrink's office, but then this was no ordinary shrink.

"I understand and I will take care of it like I told you I would. Look, I am already behind today, I will talk to you later, alright?" She heard the man behind the desk say roughly as he pivoted slightly in his large leather chair that was facing the window overlooking the parking lot. It was amazing how she had ignored his presence as long as she had, but she had gotten better at pretending and ignoring over the past few months than she cared to admit.

"Bye." He finished sharply as he dropped his cell phone onto his desk and then turned slowly in his chair and slid the yellow file folder in front of him. He glanced down at the lettering on the outside of the folder and then let out a small sigh.

"Ms. Gilbert." He said softly and then slowly looked up from his desk. Elena swallowed as she took in the man in front of her. The doctor that sat behind the large oak polished desk looked to be thirty at the most and wore black from head to toe. The skin that peeked out from his black button down dress shirt was a perfect ivory and his hair that fell messy onto his forehead was the deepest onyx she had ever seen. He wore his clothes fitted and the defined cords of muscles bulged against the crisp fabric and nearly left Elena breathless as she tried to tear her eyes away. However, nothing about his body compared to what she saw when she met his strong and compelling stare that instantly pulled her in.

Trying to put into words what Elena saw when she stared into the eyes of the doctor that sat only a few feet in front of her was something that even had she been a poet she didn't think she could ever quite master. His eyes were the color of the purest ocean and held the intensity of the strongest waves in the fiercest storm. His gaze spoke louder than any scream she had ever cried and at the same time held a light brighter than anything she had ever seen. To say his eyes were beautiful would have been an insult and to say they were consuming…well that would have been an understatement.

"Dr. Salvatore." She said in a voice that came out much quieter than she had intended. The doctor smiled gently as he looked up at her and Elena had to remind herself that she needed to breathe as she tried to keep her eyes level with the man in front of her.

"Please, have a seat Ms. Gilbert. I do apologize for you having to wait so long today, but unfortunately one of the other doctor's in our office is out sick today and I have had to take on a few extra patients today." He said in a professional clipped tone as he pointed to the smaller leather chair on the other side of his desk. Elena nodded and tried to avoid his penetrating eyes that seemed to look through her as they moved over her.

"It's alright Dr. Salvatore, I understand." She said quietly as she found her way to the chair he had pointed to and sat down. The doctor nodded and looked down at the file folder in front of him. He ran his fingers slowly over the cover and then opened it gently. He flipped through a few pages and then raised his eyes back to Elena's.

"So Ms. Gilbert, why don't you tell me a little bit about the reason why you are here to see me today?" Dr. Salvatore asked as he reclined slightly in his chair. Elena smoothed her hands over her knee length black pencil skirt and nodded as she tried to find her words she was sure she had when she was on the other side of the door.

"I, um, am not really here on my own accord." She said in almost a whisper. The doctor nodded and smiled a devilish smile that just barely touched the icy blue eyes that had never left hers since she had begun to speak.

"Ah yes, your fiancée wanted you to see me. He believes you have been distant lately. He is worried you are depressed and that possibly something is wrong that you don't feel you can share with him." He said matter of factly as he pretended to glance down at the notes in front of him. Elena nodded and turned her head quickly to the other side of the room.

"No he is worried that I am cheating on him and he figured this was the best way to find out." She said softly as she turned her eyes to the floor. She heard the doctor shift in his chair and looked up to meet his eyes. He slowly ran his fingers through his thick black hair and reclined back in his chair once again.

"Do you want to talk about his worries today, Ms. Gilbert?" He asked as his eyes held hers in an almost unwilling trance. Elena shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms protectively over her chest.

"Sure, that is what he is paying you for." She said sarcastically. The doctor smirked slightly at her and Elena felt her skin begin to burn as she tried to pull her eyes away.

"Alright then, why don't you tell me what has been going on lately. Tell me about your relationship with your fiancée'." The doctor said softly. Elena swallowed and finally looked away toward the window.

"Well, our relationship started out great. Everything was wonderful. He was the perfect gentleman, he was romantic and everything was perfect. He was the definition of the perfect boyfriend and treated me like a queen." She said softly as she continued to stare out the window and out over the now crowded parking lot.

"Then what happened?" The doctor asked and even though she couldn't see him she could feel his eyes on her and his gaze intense. She took in a deep breath and smiled.

"Then I met someone that fucked the whole thing up." She said as she looked back over to the doctor and met his eyes once again. The doctor swallowed and leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest in a mirror of the woman in front of him.

"Tell me about him." He said softly as his eyes ran over her. Elena felt her palms become slick with sweat and she quickly laced her fingers together in her lap and pulled herself up straighter in her seat.

"He is smart, but incredibly cocky. He is inhumanly beautiful, but he knows it and uses it to get what he wants. He is controlling and manipulative and never backs down from an argument. He has a horrible temper, does not tolerate not getting his way, and he drinks like a sailor, not to mention curses like one." She said in a long breath as she spoke quicker than she had originally planned. The doctor nodded as he watched her begin to fidget nervously in her seat.

"He sounds like an ass, why would you let a man like this into your life when it seems you already have the perfect man?" He asked with an edge of sarcasm in his tone as his eyes bore into Elena's. Elena smiled to herself as she untangled her fingers from her lap and lightly drug her index finger across her bottom lip. She looked up and met the doctor's stare as he watched her every move intently.

"Because when I am with him…." Elena started as she felt her breathing begin to pick up. She stared at the man in front of her as her heart began to pound in her chest and memories ran rampant through her mind. The doctor tilted his head toward her and licked his lips.

"When you are with him what, Ms. Gilbert?" He asked in a much deeper tone than he had used with her since she had entered his office. Elena swallowed as she felt the room around her become incredibly warm and almost uncomfortable.

"When I am with him he consumes me. He gets under my skin and he controls me. He commands my attention, demands my submission and takes my breath away with only a single word. He possesses me in a way I cannot explain and a way I could never deny." She said in a breathy voice as she quickly looked back down to her hands.

Elena heard the doctor let out a sigh and then slowly looked up and locked eyes with him once again. His pale blue eyes were on fire and said more than the words that slipped from his lips. He swallowed and then looked down at his desk and pretended once again to look over his notes.

"You should never let anyone possess you, Ms. Gilbert." He said in nearly a whisper. Elena leaned back in her chair as she ran one of her hands through her long chocolate brown hair and flipped it over her shoulder.

"If you were a woman you would understand. You would understand the power a man can have over you." She said as her voice filled with a newfound danger. The doctor looked up and leaned back in his chair, appearing slightly more relaxed once again.

"What power does he have over you, Ms. Gilbert?" He asked as he held her eyes with his. Elena bit her full bottom lip between her teeth and took in a breath.

"He has the power to make me compete for his affection, crave his attention and beg for his touch. I want him more than I've ever wanted anything in my life; he makes me want to be his…need to be his." She said softly. The doctor ran his hands through his already messy black hair and nodded as he cleared his throat.

"Sounds like a very powerful man." He said as he raised a brow at Elena. She nodded as she let out a breath.

"You have no idea, Dr. Salvatore." She said as she narrowed her eyes at him. The doctor nodded and slowly raised his hand to his mouth.

"Are you sleeping with this man?" He asked as he ran his hand quickly over his lips. Elena sighed softly.

"Yes." She whispered, never letting her eyes leave the doctor's.

"For how long?" He asked quickly.

"About two months." She replied. The doctor nodded and let his fingers move through his hair once again.

"Are you still sleeping with your fiancée?" He asked as his eyes dropped to the desk in front of him. Elena smiled and dropped her eyes.

"I haven't for a while." She answered softly.

"How long?" He asked quickly. Elena raised her eyes back to the doctor. His crystal blue eyes had darkened slightly and his tone was more serious than before. He raised his eyes back to hers and she felt her blood begin to pump faster through her veins.

"Is that information needed to know for my mental well-being…doctor?" She asked sarcastically. Dr. Salvatore looked up at her intensely and clenched his jaw tightly. Elena felt a small amount of fear move through her, but she held the doctor's intense stare.

"Please answer the question Ms. Gilbert." He said roughly. Elena sighed.

"It's been about two months; I am guessing that is one of the reasons why I am here. Men go to such great extremes when they aren't getting laid." She said with a smile as she felt a bit of bravery take over. The doctor smiled and relaxed slightly against his chair.

"Sex is very important to a relationship, Mrs. Gilbert." He said as he stared at her. Elena nodded.

"Is that your recommendation for my recovery, doctor? You would like me to go home and sleep with my fiancée?" She asked with continued sarcasm. The smile faded from the doctor's lips as fast as it had come.

"Sex may be important Ms. Gilbert, but it doesn't solve everything." He said more sternly. Elena tilted her head and narrowed her eyes toward him.

"It might not solve everything, but it sure helps." She said with a smile. The doctor turned his head toward her and licked his lips.

"Did you learn that from the man that is fucking up your life, Ms. Gilbert?" He asked with his own hint of sarcasm. Elena smiled.

"I've learned a lot from him, Dr. Salvatore." She said as she raised one of her perfectly arched brows at him. The doctor pushed himself up from his desk and stood behind his desk. She smiled and let her eyes move over him as he moved. She bit her lip as she tried to keep her eyes on his and not on his form fitting black dress pants.

"Does the sex make up for the destruction this man is causing in your life? Is it worth it, Ms. Gilbert?" The doctor asked in a serious and professional tone as he moved from his desk over to the table next to his book case. He turned his back to her and poured himself a drink as he awaited her reply.

"Yes it does. Does that make me a bad person, Dr. Salvatore?" She asked sweetly as she leaned forward in her chair.

The doctor set the bottle of bourbon back down on the table and raised his glass to his lips. Elena watched as he closed his eyes and drank the entire glass in one swallow and then set the tumbler back on the table. Slowly, he turned around once again and met the chocolate brown eyes staring back at him. He leaned back against the table and crossed his arms once again.

"You are not a bad person Ms. Gilbert, but it sure sounds like this other man in your life is. It doesn't sound like this man is stable and that is not good for you or for anyone for that matter. You deserve someone who will treat you right and have a positive effect on your life, you deserve better than someone that tries to control you." He said softly as he looked down at the floor. Elena felt the smile on her face fade and suddenly her blood began to rush in her veins. Her heart began to pound violently and before she realized it she was standing. Rage moved through her quickly and before she could stop herself she felt her words rushing out of her mouth much louder than she intended.

"Is that why I am here…_doctor_?! Did my fiancée' send me here so that you could talk some sense into me so that I can march happily down the aisle next to someone that I don't love and ride off into a boring sunset just so he doesn't have to lose? Is that what this is about? This isn't about what I want, it's about what he wants and he figures you can persuade me to want it too, right?" She screamed as she stared at him. The doctor pushed himself effortlessly from the small table and moved closer to the angry woman challenging him.

"This isn't about anyone trying to persuade you, Ms. Gilbert, it is about you doing what is best for you and doing what is good for you. You deserve better than someone that is going to fuck you up and make you feel like you have to belong to him to be somebody. God damnit, can't you even see how fucking insane that even sounds?" The doctor yelled back. Elena balled her fists at her sides and moved closer to the man in front of her that she was sure probably wasn't supposed to be yelling at his patients, but in that moment she didn't care.

"Most people wait their entire life to feel half of what I feel when I am with him. Not you or fucking Stefan is going to talk me out of that. I am not insane, I…" Elena stopped mid-sentence and caught herself before she uttered the words she knew would make even this situation even worse. She backed up slightly as she watched the doctor move closer to her with a look in his eyes that terrified her.

"You what, Ms. Gilbert?" The doctor asked as he moved closer to her. Elena stepped backward as she felt her heart beat even faster in her chest.

"Nothing…I forgot what I was going to say." She said quickly. The doctor moved closer to her once again and soon Elena's back hit the oak door behind her. Dr. Salvatore stopped a few inches in front of her and even though he wasn't touching her, she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"Bullshit, answer my question." He demanded roughly. Elena swallowed and turned her head toward the opposite wall and let out a breath.

"It's after three Dr. Salvatore, I really should go. I'm sure you have patients waiting." Elena defended quickly as she tried to catch her breath. The doctor shook his head and moved a step forward.

"Answer the question, now." He commanded in a rough tone as his hand hit the wall with a thud next to Elena's head. Elena swallowed and felt tears sting in her eyes as she licked her dry lips.

"I…I love him." She whispered as her voice began to shake slightly. The doctor let out a breath and gritted his teeth.

"No you don't. You only think you love him. He isn't good for you, you deserve better." He said between his teeth as he looked down at the floor between them.

"I know what I feel. I love him no matter what he is or who he is. I have loved him for a very long time and I can't lie anymore, I'm so tired of lying." She whispered as she studied the doctor's troubled face and felt her hands begin to tremble at her sides.

"How could you love someone like that, Ms. Gilbert?" He whispered as he raised his pained eyes to hers. Elena smiled softly and let out a breath as she held his gaze.

"He saved me when no one else could. He showed me what life truly was and I have loved him ever since." She whispered. The doctor looked up and slowly closed the gap between their bodies.

"He's an idiot and he doesn't deserve you." He whispered as he raised his hand and softly tucked a strand of her long hair behind her ear.

"Yes he does." She whispered as she caught his hand and tangled her fingers with his. The doctor closed his eyes and let out a breath.

"I'm sorry he made you come here, Elena." The doctor whispered as he dropped his forehead against hers. Elena untangled her fingers from his and softly touched the side of his face.

"I'm not." She whispered. The doctor slowly opened his eyes and locked them with hers. He slid his hand down the oak door behind them and slowly turned the lock on the door.

"You said he makes you want him to possess you, how bad do you want to be his, Elena?" He asked in a dark and animalistic tone. Elena swallowed and stared into the wild blue eyes in front of her.

"More than anything." She whispered. The doctor let out a breath and then slid his hands down her sides and pulled her closer to him. He ran his fingertips down the length of her skirt and then in one swift movement pushed it up to her hips. He leaned his head down towards hers and let his lips hover just over hers until he felt her body tremble against his.

"Tell me what you want, Elena." He whispered against her lips. Elena felt her mouth begin to water as she anticipated his taste.

"Touch me, Damon. Please." She whispered. Damon slid his hand down her thigh and let it settle between her thighs. He ran his fingertips over the wet material of her lace panties and swallowed roughly as he pushed his knee between her legs and used it to push one of her legs up onto his, spreading hers further apart.

"You should never have to beg for what you want, Elena." He whispered as he began to rub his fingers over her and smiled wickedly as he felt her become wetter with his every touch.

"Then why do you always make me?" She asked as she licked her lips, trying desperately to get a taste of his as he continued to speak just over her lips. Damon swallowed again and let out a breath as he let his lips touch hers for a second before he pulled back slightly.

"Because it turns me on, because it makes you wet and because when I finally get my tongue under that skirt of yours you seem to beg all on your own anyway." He whispered seductively as he slipped his fingers under her lace panties and gently brushed his fingers over her clit. Elena moaned and Damon closed his eyes as he breathed out.

"Damon, please." She begged as she pushed her hips against his hand. Damon pressed his lips against hers, but he did not kiss her once again. He simply let his lips mold over hers as he met her desperate stare.

"Tell me I'm the only one, Elena." He whispered against her mouth, now his voice sounding slightly desperate. Elena moaned as she felt his tongue slide against her lips as he spoke.

"You are the only one, you know that. I only want you." She whispered as she felt her body begin to shake as his fingers slid over her clit once again.

"I'm bad for you, very bad." He whispered again as he added more pressure to his touch. Elena moaned and nodded.

"I don't care, I need you." She moaned as she let her head drop back on the hard oak door behind her. Damon slid his lips down slightly and slowly sucked Elena's bottom lip into his mouth. He bit down gently on her soft skin and then pulled back as he heard Elena's moan vibrate through him. He knew at that point there was no time left for talking. He had known from the moment she had walked into his office that day that this was how all of this was going to end. Hell, if he was honest he knew how this was going to end two years ago when he had first laid his eyes on her in those green scrubs that she had despised from the moment she had been forced to put them on.

"I will only hurt you if we continue this, Elena. You know that and so do I." He whispered as he looked back into the chocolate brown eyes that haunted his every dream. Elena shook her head.

"I don't care. Hurt me then. I love you Damon, I can't stop, I don't want to." She whispered as her body started to tremble and tears once again began to sting her eyes. Damon nodded and slid his hand to the back of her thin neck and tangled his fingers in her hair. He pulled her roughly toward his mouth, but stopped just before her lips crushed against his. He stared into her eyes and pressed her tighter against the door and against his hard body.

"I don't want to either and if I remember correctly, I have been described as someone who enjoys getting what he wants." He said softly as he smiled against her lips. Elena smiled and felt her tears begin to subside as she felt herself get lost in the light radiating from the blue eyes staring into hers.

"Whoever said that must have been crazy." She said as she bit her lip gently. Damon licked his lips as his smile faded.

"Insane." He whispered softly. Elena swallowed, but before she could say anything in return Damon crushed his mouth against hers. Elena closed her eyes and finally tasted the lips that she had been craving for nearly two years and no matter how many times she had tasted them her craving never seemed to subside, but only became more intense. She tangled her fingers in his thick hair as she felt him pull away from her lips and then watched him intently as he sank down her body and onto his knees. She wanted to look away from the intensity of his stare, but somehow after all this time she still couldn't. She bit down on her lip as she felt his mouth come in contact with her delicate wet flesh and as her head fell back against the door behind her she felt her mind wander back to the first time she had seen those blue eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen a psychiatrist and the last time she ever wore the color green.

**Alright everyone how was that? I've had horrible writers block and I had an idea for a fic and so I decided to go with it, so what did you all think? Yes, this will be a smutty fic and yes it will still have a story line. There will be love, lust, bad Damon and good Damon and a whole lot of Delena. Please read and review and let me know what you thought; hope I'm not getting too rusty at this. Thanks for reading, please review!**

**P.S. Do we like how incredibly bipolar these characters act in this prologue lol? Trust me, its important to the story, review please! Love you all:)  
**


	2. Chapter One: Alive

_**Chapter One: Alive**_

_"I want to feel passion, I want to feel pain. I want to weep at the sound of your name. Come make me laugh, come make me cry... just make me feel alive." –Joey Lauren Adams_

Elena laid as still as stone in her small and uncomfortable twin sized bed as she stared up at the ceiling above her and tried to keep a tight grasp on the little sanity that she had left and realized quite quickly that was a battle she was definitely losing. She hadn't had a decent night's sleep in nearly five days and even though now she was thankfully not hooked up to a million machines that only served to pump meaningless life through her veins, she could still hear their loud beeping humming through her ears as clear as ever. She was in hell, no actually it was worse; she was in the hospital.

It would have been lovely if Elena could say that she was recovering in the hospital after some terrible accident in which she had somehow escaped and now was taking some much needed time to rest before she returned home, but saying something so far from the actual truth just seemed ridiculous at this point. No, she wasn't recovering from some tragic accident and she wasn't staying at St. Mary's of her own free will, no she had been admitted and her stay had only just begun.

A few weeks before, life had been the same as always. She had moved through her days as if nothing was wrong, as if nothing had happened and as if there wasn't a deep seeded loneliness eating her from the inside out. She appeared happy to her friends and attended all of her courses at the University just as she always had. No, it wasn't until three days before that she had completely lost it. It wasn't until the anniversary that all hell had truly broken loose.

Just three short days before, Elena remembered standing in her bathroom and staring at the reflection of herself in the mirror that even she didn't recognize anymore. She had promised herself that she was going to keep it together and that she was going to move on from what had happened the year before and have the kind of life that she knew her family had always wanted her to have…the family that no longer existed.

Elena didn't even remember exactly how it had happened, but the night from the moment in the mirror forward spun out of control and into a blur of flashing red lights and muffled voices around her faster than she could comprehend. She remembered the tears that she was surprised never came as she had slid the blade up first her right arm and then her left and then the terrified shrieks that came from who she guessed was Caroline what seemed like only a second later when she had found her on the cool tiles of her bathroom floor. After that she didn't remember much until she woke up in the emergency room hooked up to nearly every machine she thought was possible and saw the ten black stitches adorned neatly on each of her now not so delicate wrists. She had then spent two days recovering in the intensive care unit and now here she lay on the third floor of St. Mary's Memorial Hospital…on the stabilization unit… aka the Psych Ward.

"Elena?" A soft female voice called from her doorway, jarring Elena from her memories of the nightmare that had been the past few days.

"Yes?" She replied without moving her eyes from the ceiling that she had been continuing to stare at as she had begun her not so merry trip down memory lane.

"Sweetheart, it's time for you to see the doctor. Please get dressed and then meet me in the common area in five minutes, alright?" The nurse asked as she opened her door a little wider allowing the painfully bright florescent light into her previously (and purposely) darkened hospital room.

"Alright." Elena replied softly still not making a move. The nurse nodded and let out a sigh and then closed the door gently behind her.

It took Elena a few moments to finally pry herself from her bed and make her way toward the hole in the wall that the staff swore was a closet. Elena wanted to put on some of her own clothes to hopefully feel a little bit more like herself again, but since she had only been on the unit for a few hours that was against the rules. For the first day that she was on the unit she had to wear hospital scrubs and shoes without shoe laces (because she would be creative enough to try to kill herself with the laces from her converse's) for her safety and comfort. After she made it through the first day she would be allowed to have her friends bring her clothes of her own, but she had to earn them. In other words she had to behave and pretend that she regretted what had happened a few days before; the problem was that her only regret was that it hadn't worked.

After about ten minutes, Elena emerged from her room and made her way down the long white hallway toward the common area where she was sure that the nurse was waiting for her and checking her watch wondering why she was late for nearly everything. She hated to break it to the nurse, but she was in no hurry to see any doctor that this hospital had to offer and since she guessed this doctor was a shrink, she definitely wasn't rushing in order to get there any faster than she had to. The last thing she needed was some middle aged Freudian trying to tell her that she had tried to kill herself because she hated her mother and was angry that she didn't have a penis because frankly she didn't understand how men walked around with those things in the first place.

"Elena, there you are sweetie, are you feeling alright?" The nurse asked sweetly as she greeted her in the common area. Elena nodded and put on her best smile as she looked down at the floor.

"Yeah sorry, I'm just not a morning person." She said softly. The nurse smiled and nodded as she turned and grabbed a yellow file folder from the cart next to her.

"That's alright; the doctor is running behind today anyway, so it's no biggie. Let's get you in there and then after your session we will get you something to eat, OK?" She asked. Elena nodded and returned the nurse's smile.

"OK." She replied and then followed the nurse quietly down the hall to meet Dr. Freud.

Elena sat quietly in the small painfully white hospital room and tapped her flip flop against the cold tiled floor as she waited for the doctor that was now fifteen minutes late. She couldn't believe she had been rushed to get into this room when the doctor himself couldn't even make it there on time. She knew she was in a nut ward, but couldn't they at least show some common courtesy?

"Come on…" Elena sighed in frustration as she threw herself back in her chair, but just as the words left her lips and her back hit her chair, she heard the door behind her click open. She quickly snapped her mouth shut and sat up straight in her chair. She wanted to make a good impression on this doctor so that maybe she could go home before the weekend and be able to wear shoes with laces and pajama pants with drawstrings again.

"Ms. Gilbert, I am sorry to keep you waiting." A man's voice said smoothly from behind her and suddenly Elena's foot immediately stopped tapping. The man did not sound middle aged and definitely did not sound like Freud. Elena took in a deep breath and held it as the doctor moved quickly around her and then sat down in the chair in front of her.

"I'm Dr. Salvatore." The man said softly as he tilted his head to find her eyes that she had quickly dropped to the floor. Elena swallowed as she finally raised her eyes to look at the doctor and felt her mouth immediately go bone dry.

To be perfectly honest, Elena retracted her previous thought that simply being on the psych unit was hell. No, this was hell. Sitting in a small enclosed room with a man as good looking as this and realizing that he in fact thought she was crazy and was there to medicate her into submission until she was smiling enough to go home, that was hell. Hell was staring at the man in front of her and not being able to even formulate a simple hello because the deep blue color of his eyes seemed to swallow her whole from the minute that she finally got the courage to look up at him. Hell was watching his far too beautiful smile fade as he looked at her with pity because she seemed to just stare at him in some sort of drunken stupor due to the fact that in all her twenty-one years of life she had never seen a person this beautiful before and she didn't quite think that it was fair to other's that said doctor in front of her was so beautiful. It should have been illegal for his eyes to be that color, for his hair to be that black, for his gray dress shirt to mold to his body like that and it definitely should have been at least a misdemeanor that he smelled better at eight o'clock in the morning than she did at seven o'clock at night before going to a club with her friends. Yes, this was hell and she lived there…in her scrubs…her pea green scrubs.

"Ms. Gilbert?" Dr. Salvatore asked again as he studied the girl in front of him that seemed to have been in a state of shock ever since he had walked into the room.

"Yes…um…I'm sorry…I'm tired. I um…haven't slept well and yeah…I'm sorry." Elena sputtered out quickly as she adjusted herself in her chair and tried to pull herself together. The doctor smiled and leaned back in his chair slightly as he sat her chart on his lap. He folded his hands and let them rest on top of the folder as he watched her fidget in front of him.

"Did they give you something for sleep? We definitely want you to get as much rest as possible while you are here and I know that those mattresses don't help matters much." He said with a soft smile, his eyes never leaving hers. Elena nodded and bit down on her lip gently.

"I don't think they are giving me anything. I just got here last night. I don't want to be drugged up; I mean I don't need drugs." She said defensively as she avoided his eyes. The doctor smiled and nodded as he watched the girl squirm in her seat.

"I am not here to drug you up Ms. Gilbert; I simply want you to be able to get some rest." He replied softly. Elena shrugged her shoulders and smiled a little to herself.

"Isn't that what you do though, Dr. Salvatore? You are a shrink, aren't you?" She asked as she finally met his eyes once again. The doctor shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.

"I do prescribe medicine when it is needed, yes. However, not everyone needs medication. Some just need to discuss their problems and have someone listen to them. I would like to listen, if you would like to talk, Ms. Gilbert." He said as he held her eyes with his. Elena felt a chill move through her as he seemed to stare her down.

"What do you want me to talk about then, Dr. Salvatore?" She asked as she twisted her fingers nervously together in her lap.

"Well first, I would like you to call me Damon." He said with a smile as he lifted one of his hands to his jaw and traced his finger over his chin. Elena felt her heart begin to pound harder against her chest.

"Alright…Damon…do you want me to tell you my life story?" She asked as she felt heat rising in her cheeks just by using his first name. Damon shrugged his shoulders and pressed his lips together as he crossed one of his legs over the other.

"I want you to tell me whatever you want to tell me." He said as he narrowed his eyes at her. Elena looked down at the floor and began to tap her foot once again.

"There isn't really much to tell. I grew up in Mystic Falls with my family and that is where I have lived my whole life. I had a brother, named Jeremy, and I am still best friends with all of the same people I was when I was in high school. I am an English Major at the University here and I graduate in two years if I can keep up on my classes. I live in a small apartment with my best friend Caroline and I drive a Jeep that is truly on its very last leg." She said quickly with a sigh as she looked back at the doctor and awaited his reply. Damon nodded and studied her face as she spoke.

"Why do you say that you had a brother?" He asked quietly. Elena looked back down at the floor and slid her fingers up to her dark brown hair that fell over her shoulders and began twisting it between her fingers nervously.

"Umm..well…he died, he and my parents. They were in a car accident a year ago and drove off a bridge. So, I had parents and I had a brother and now I have…me." She said softly. Damon cleared his throat as he studied the girl in front of him. He watched as she twisted her hair, tapped her foot and avoided looking him in the eye. He noticed that she breathed faster every time he spoke to her and every time she had to speak about something that she didn't want to. He heard the pain in her voice and the tears that she was holding back and something inside of him wanted to reach out and soothe the pain in her that he understood in a way he couldn't explain, but instead he leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair as he let out a sigh.

"When was the anniversary of their death?" He asked after he had given her a moment to sit in the silence and collect herself. Elena looked up with tears clouding her chocolate brown eyes and bit her now trembling lip.

"Friday." She whispered. Damon nodded and gripped the file folder in his lap to busy his hands so that he kept a safe distance from the trembling girl in front of him.

"And on Friday you kept it together all day and everyone thought you were alright, that you had finally moved on. Then when you were alone at home that night you finally let yourself break down. You couldn't take it anymore and you were tired of the lies everyone had told you that time would heal your wounds. It didn't hurt when you slid the blade up your wrists because it felt like a release, it felt like the pain would be over and you welcomed it. The only disappointment was when you woke up in the hospital on Saturday and the pain wasn't over. And, then you realized you weren't in pain because you were in the hospital, you were in pain because you woke up." He whispered and as soon as the words left his lips he watched as the girl in front of him froze as still as stone as her eyes locked on his. She bit down deeper into her full bottom lip as the tears began to slowly roll down her cheeks and slowly she nodded with her eyes filled with both despair and amazement.

"Yes." She whispered as her heart hammered against her chest and her mind swirled in confusion on how the man sitting in front of her knew her deepest secrets and yet had only known her for a mere thirty minutes.

"I know you think that dying is the only way to end your pain Ms. Gilbert, but I can tell you that it is not. I can also tell you that you are not crazy and that time doesn't heal your wounds…you heal your wounds." He said softly as his blue eyes held hers and his fingers dug into the folder that was crumpling in his lap. Elena nodded slowly.

"I…um…I'm sorry that I…" She started to stutter as she began whipping the tears quickly from under her eyes and rearranging herself in her chair as she realized she had just been blubbering in front of a Greek God that even though claimed he didn't think she was crazy, she was sure truly thought something much different.

"Ms. Gilbert?" Damon whispered as he leaned forward in his chair, but the girl did not stop fidgeting as he spoke to her and her eyes fixated on the floor as if she was studying the tile pattern.

"Elena?" He asked slightly louder and she finally stopped moving and turned her eyes back to his. Damon reached out his hand and gently swept a piece of her long hair behind her ear. He felt her shiver under his touch and the electricity that moved through his body when their skin connected made his mouth go dry as his hand lingered just a little too long on the smoothness of her soft skin.

"Never apologize for grieving. If you don't grieve then you can't heal and you don't heal you can't move on." He said softly with a smile. Elena nodded and tried to catch her breath as she felt Damon's touch move from her skin.

Quickly, Damon sat back in his chair and opened the nearly destroyed file folder in his lap that he probably should have read about thirty minutes before. He skimmed over the notes the admitting doctor had made and then scribbled a few notes in the margins himself. He sighed and then returned his gaze to the girl sitting in front of him that still stared at him as if she had seen a ghost.

"Alright, so I will be seeing you every morning for about forty-five minutes until you are released. I will order you something for sleep, but I don't think you need any further medication at this time. I will speak with the nurses about your progress and if all goes well hopefully we can have you out of here by the end of the week. Do you have any questions for me, Ms. Gilbert?" He asked in his newly found professional voice that he knew he owned, but has seemed to lose when he had walked in the door.

"Umm, no. I think I am good." Elena said with a smile as she collected herself and tried to ignore the twinge of disappointment inside of her that she wouldn't see the doctor again for another twenty-four hours.

"Good. If you need anything please tell one of the nurses and they will page me. I am on call this week and will gladly come in if you need me." He said as he closed the file folder and tucked his pen into his shirt pocket. Elena nodded and slowly stood as she tried to avert her eyes from the doctor that she seemed to already want to page and she hadn't even left the room yet.

"Thank you, Dr. Salvatore. I really appreciate your help. I will see you tomorrow." She whispered quietly as she stepped backward quickly and stumbled into her chair. In a second she felt Damon's hand on her arm pulling her up and toward him as her chair tipped over and hit the floor with a loud thud. Elena gasped as she felt the closeness of Damon's body next to hers and slowly looked up at him with nervous eyes.

"I'm sorry, I guess I am tired." She whispered as she found her footing and stepped back, but noticed that Damon still had a hold on her.

"If you need anything, Elena." He whispered softly. Elena nodded as she felt his hand drop and slowly began to turn toward the door.

"Thank you." She whispered. Damon nodded and then slowly Elena made it out the door without falling once again and turned back to the long hallway from where she had come. She walked in almost a trance back toward her room and once she reached it, sat down on her bed and smiled a real smile for the first time in days. Even though she had felt like an idiot for crying in front of a doctor that looked like a male model, she couldn't help but feel a sense of great relief wash over her. Today had been the first time in a year that she had cried and the only time she had truly felt herself mourn the death of her family rather than bury it. For the first time in a year she felt, she truly felt and that was something that felt better than the fantasy of death that had been clinging to before this horrible weekend had begun. A piece of her felt alive again…and he had found it.

**OK, so what do we think of the first meeting? To answer another question that was on a review, yes this story is in the flow of the prologue starts at the end and then the chapters tell the story of how they got there and then there will be an epilogue to pick up where the prologue left off and give a closure to the story. Did you all like this chapter? Can you feel the pull? Well you ain't seen nothing yet;) I got lots planned and a lot of smut coming your way, but it really didn't have a place in this chapter. I promise to update a lot because the ideas are cooking and the muse is on fire! Please read and I love your reviews, so thank you and keep them coming! Thank you all for reading my work and not giving up on me Happy reading, please review and nighty night all!**


	3. Chapter Two: Pushing That Fine Line

_**Chapter Two: Pushing That Fine Line**_

"_How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares_

_if there seemed any danger of their coming true!"_

― _Logan Pearsall Smith_

Elena sat in the unusual silence of the hospital's third floor hallway and tapped her foot nervously against the cold tiled floors. It had been a full twenty-four hours since her first appointment with Dr. Salvatore and after the day she had yesterday, she welcomed her time in a shrink's office…for more reasons than one.

The day before had gone by in a blur as she was ushered from one grueling organized activity to the next. Her day consisted of three group therapy sessions, one art class, three inedible meals and one stop at the med cart for a sleeping pill that barely gave her enough time to make it to her room before she collapsed into a psychedelic coma that she never cared to revisit again. She felt like she was living at a summer camp for the mentally ill and her camp counselor's carried bottles of Valium instead of bottles of water.

"Ms. Gilbert?" Her overly happy nurse called as she stepped out of the door beside her holding the dreaded yellow folder and a pen in her right hand. Elena smiled and nodded as she pushed herself up from the cool floor and smoothed out her pink track suit (because she had been a good girl and earned her clothes…too bad they didn't let you have matches in that place because she wanted to set the previous day's scrubs on fire) before moving closer to the door she had been waiting to walk through since she left it the day before.

"Morning." Elena said with a small smile as she tried to hide the excitement she knew she should not be feeling.

"Good morning sweetheart, how did you sleep?" The nurse asked as she opened the folder and clicked her pen. Elena sighed and ran her fingers through her slightly wavy hair (because hair dryers were too hot to have on the crazy floor) as she shrugged her shoulders.

"It was better than a Grateful Dead concert." She said sarcastically in a quiet voice. The nurse narrowed her eyes at her and nodded as she wrote something quickly in her chart.

"Alright, well you can go in honey. Dr. Salvatore is waiting for you." She said with a smile as she stepped back and pushed the door behind her open slightly farther. Elena swallowed and nodded and then stepped slowly into the room.

It was time for honesty and Elena felt that by being honest, she was making serious progress toward her mental health and recovery. It was not only unfair, but completely unnatural for someone to look as attractive as Dr. Salvatore did at that time of day or any time of day for that matter. Elena was wearing a Victoria Secret pink track suit that she had received for Christmas the year before and her hair was in a wavy mess due to the extensive safety precautions of the establishment she was being forced to stay in. In front of her, on the other hand, sat her doctor that looked as if he had just stepped out of GQ magazine and was doing a photo-shoot in the Psych Ward. His raven colored hair was wet and lay in a messy perfection on his forehead, his white dress shirt clung to his body as if it were a second skin and was unbuttoned at his chest about two buttons past appropriate. Then there were his black dress pants…and they were form fitting and Elena was seriously thinking about writing a formal complaint to the director of the hospital asking him to require staff to wear scrubs because those pants were making her crazier than she was and that was just bad medicine.

To top off the whole tortuous scene that was unraveling before her, the good doctor was sitting relaxed in his chair with one of his legs crossed over the other and watching her the entire time that she moved into the room. He held a pen in his right hand and had the end of said pen in his mouth as he chewed lightly on it. Did he not know how distracting it was for him to be doing anything with his mouth? Of course he did, and she was sure that was exactly why he was doing it.

"Good morning, Ms. Gilbert." Dr. Salvatore said as he watched the woman that had been boring holes into his head since she had walked in, slowly move over to the chair in front of him and sit down.

"Good morning, Dr. Salvatore." Elena replied back as she crossed her legs and put her hands in her lap. She was in control today; she was not letting some overly handsome doctor make her fall over her chair…again…literally.

"Damon." The doctor said sternly with the hint of a smile playing on his lips. Elena nodded and bit down on her lip.

"Good morning, Damon." She whispered in a voice that she did not know she had owned until she entered that room. Damon's eyes darkened slightly as her words left her lips and she watched as he quickly pushed himself up straighter in his chair and turned his eyes toward the nurse that was definitely still in the room.

"Thank you Joyce that will be all." He said with a smile as he took the yellow folder from the nurse's hand and nodded slightly. The nurse smiled and even Elena could tell that she was eyeing the two of them like a hawk.

"Have a good session, Elena." The nurse said softly and then with a click of the door, she was gone.

"So, Ms. Gilbert, how did you sleep last night?" Damon asked once the door was closed and he heard the nurse's footsteps fade down the hallway. Elena rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.

"Well, I made it to my bed, so I guess I slept great." She said with a hint of sarcasm as she wondered if the nurse had really recorded any of the questions she asked her in her file or if the medical professionals at this hospital truly just loved to doodle.

"Was the medicine too strong, Ms. Gilbert?" Damon asked as he folded his hands in his lap. Elena shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe a little. I mean I swear I saw colors I didn't know existed once I hit that pillow. I mean did you seriously give me like the strongest stuff you had?" She asked with a smile. Damon shook his head and smirked slightly.

"Oh no, Ms. Gilbert, I can give you something much stronger than that." He said softly with a darkness in his voice that neither one of them had expected. Elena looked up and licked her lips instinctively as she caught the blue eyes in front of her that were nearly staring through her.

"I'm sure you can." She whispered not of her own accord, but of the accord of the slut that lived inside of her that had been screaming for her to jump on the doctor's lap since she had entered the room.

"Well then, so we will dial back the medication tonight and see how that goes. Since we didn't really go through the traditional intake yesterday when I saw you, would you mind if I asked you some questions so that I can get to know a little bit more about you, Ms. Gilbert?" Damon asked as he quickly changed the subject and straightened himself in his chair. He needed remember where he was and what he was doing before he ended up practicing medicine in a free clinic in the part of town that not even he would go into.

"Sure, and please, call me Elena." Elena said as she flipped a hand full of her chocolate brown waves behind her shoulder. Damon nodded and swallowed as he held himself down to his chair.

"Alright, Elena. How old are you?" He asked as he opened her chart and clicked his pen.

"I'm twenty-one." Elena replied as she straightened herself and tried to keep herself together like she had been planning on all morning. Damon nodded and scribbled on the page in his lap.

"Have you ever been under the care of a psychiatrist before?" He asked without looking up.

"No, you're my first." Elena said softly as she tried to mentally kick the slut inside of her that was apparently having a great time forcing words out of her mouth before she could process them. Damon swallowed and a small laugh escaped his mouth as he ran his fingers through is hair and continued writing on the paper in front of him. Was he nervous?

"Um, are you on any medication currently?" He asked quickly.

"Just birth control." Elena replied and finally let out a sigh because even though that could have been sexual it wasn't. She was on birth control, it was a fact and she was simply telling her doctor. She gave herself a mental high five and moved along.

"Alright, and since we are on that topic, how many sexual partners have you had?" He asked, still looking down at his notes. Elena swallowed…_fuck_… this was the last thing she wanted to talk about. Why the hell did he need to know that?

"Why is my sexual history important, if you don't mind me asking?" Elena asked quickly as she tried to keep herself in line and yet avoid the questioning. Damon finally looked up from his notes and leaned back in his chair. He narrowed his eyes and suddenly Elena felt almost challenged by him.

"It is important because it helps to build a complete picture for me of who you are." He replied as he smiled and awaited her response. Elena crossed her arms over her chest.

"How many people I've slept with does not say anything about who I am." She said defiantly. Why was she acting like a child now, why couldn't she just answer the question? Damon smiled and tilted his head to the side and stared at her.

"Why don't you want to answer my question, Ms. Gilbert?" He asked with a dangerous curiosity filling his tone. Elena shrugged and began twisting her fingers in her lap.

"I just don't think it is important." She said as she dropped her eyes to the floor.

"Are you afraid I will judge you by the number of men you have been with?" He asked as Elena raised her eyes to his. Elena sighed.

"Don't psychoanalyze me Dr. Salvatore; I just don't want to answer the question." She said quickly and suddenly realized that her inner slut had apparently been kicked out of her mind by the bitch that only recently had been making more of an appearance.

"Alright, well I am going to return some phone calls then and when you decide to answer me then please come out in the hall and get me and we can continue with this session." Damon said strongly as he began to stand from his chair. Elena narrowed her eyes and felt her blood begin to boil.

"So because you didn't get your way, you are going to use my session to return phone calls to the many women that I am sure have already gladly told you have many dicks they've sucked just so you would spend more time with them and I am stuck sitting in here staring at the wall?" Elena asked in a huff and just as soon as the words left her mouth she knew she had stepped over the line. She quickly looked down at the floor and avoided the blue eyes that she could feel burning into her head. What the hell had she just said? Did she actually just do that? She blamed the sleeping medicine…yes that was it…they put something in it and now she was crazy and about to get locked up by Dr. Salvatore because she had yelled at him during only her second session.

"Elena?" Damon's voice asked softly and even though she hadn't looked up she was sure he was standing closer to her than he should be. Elena let out a sigh and felt the bitch inside her join the slut for a drink as her walls began to fall down around her.

"One." Elena replied softly. There was silence and she heard a chair move and as she looked up she found Damon sitting back in the chair in front of her. He smiled and it was as if he hadn't heard her rant only a few moments before, only her submission as she finally had answered his question.

"And why did you not want me to know that?" He asked softly as his eyes studied hers. Elena sighed.

"Because I am twenty-one and I hear it enough from my friends that I am inexperienced and a prude and all that crap, I didn't want to hear it from a shrink as well." She said as she shrugged. Damon smiled.

"Well, I am not here to judge you Elena. Sleeping with just one person is not a bad thing; it is something that should be admired. To you sex is not something that is casual, but something that is special and that is not something to be ashamed of." He said matter of factly. Elena nodded and then tilted her head to the side and looked at him.

"How many women have you slept with?" She asked as bravery rushed through her. Damon stared at her and smiled as he lifted his hand to his lips.

"This session isn't about me, Elena." She said as he moved his fingertips slowly over his mouth. Elena swallowed and felt her throat go bone dry once again. If he didn't stop touching his mouth she was going to slap him and at least then would have a reason to get locked up.

"That must mean a lot." She said with a smile. Damon shrugged.

"Let's just say I believe that to truly understand and appreciate something you have to truly study it. Practice makes perfect." He said with a smile realizing that he was treading a very fine line with the patient sitting in front of him. He was never to disclose anything about his personal life to his patients and yet there he was throwing sexual innuendo at a woman that he was supposed to be helping after losing her entire family and nearly her own life as well. Elena smiled and Damon felt his breathing speed up as watched her swallow roughly and lick her lips. He hated the part of himself that loved watching her like this and truly loathed the deeper part inside of him that wanted to lick her lips for her.

"I bet you practiced your ass off then." She whispered almost so low that he almost didn't hear her, but he did. He tilted his head toward her and dropped the yellow folder he had been writing on down to the floor.

"Elena…" Damon said darkly and for the first time since she had met him, Elena felt afraid. She knew that the things she had said in their session had crossed a line. She was out right flirting with her shrink in the psych ward of the hospital she was born in. This wasn't right, she wasn't this person, no she wasn't. She was Elena Gilbert who had only slept with one person and that was her high school boyfriend on prom night and then kept her legs closed like a good girl as she waited for her prince charming. The man in front of her was not her prince charming and from the look in his eye at that moment she felt herself almost glad that he wasn't.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Salvatore I shouldn't have said that. I think I am still messed up from the meds last night and I am not feeling well. Please don't take offense to my behavior, I didn't mean it." She said quickly as she composed herself and crossed her legs tightly together. Damon smiled as he watched her fidget in front of him. Ever since her last comment and his file folder hitting the floor, the girl that sat before him had acted as if a bomb had went off in the room. He took in a long deep breath and no matter how much the deeper parts inside of him wanted to press this girl to her limit just to see who she really was under her layers of pink sweats and chocolate waves, he knew that he couldn't. Instead, he straightened himself up in his chair and cleared his throat. He smiled and softened his tone before he spoke.

"Elena, you did not offend me and please do not apologize for speaking freely. Anything you say in this room with me is confidential and trust me; it takes a lot more than some snide comments about my suspected sex life to rattle my cage." He said with gentleness in his tone that made Elena finally raise her eyes to meet his. The pale blue color of his eyes was soft and it was as if the storm that she always sensed was brewing inside of him had calmed and settled. Elena nodded and then looked up at the clock on the wall behind him. It was after nine, her time was up.

"I know you probably have other patients waiting for you, Dr. Salvatore. I imagine they have a fun filled morning planned for me anyway. I'm dying to know what they are going to try to convince me is food for breakfast." She said with a smile as she moved forward in her seat to stand, but before she did she felt her knees collide with Damon's. She looked up and noticed that he too had moved forward in his seat and was now staring intently at her. She swallowed roughly, but could not speak. There was a silence in the room the surrounded the both of them and as she felt Damon's hands slip onto hers she felt herself nearly fall out of her chair.

"Elena, I want you to promise me something, alright?" He asked in a serious, but soft tone as he slid his hands further up her hands to the tops of her small wrists. Elena felt her heart begin to beat harder in her chest as she nodded.

"Alright." She whispered as she felt the warmth from his hands begin to move through hers and radiate throughout her entire body. Damon nodded and then softly turned her hands over in his. He slid his hand up her palm and then pushed the sleeves of her pink hoodie up her arms, revealing the stitched lines on both of her wrists. Elena looked down and was tempted to pull her hands away to cover her wounds, but something about the way he touched her made it feel impossible for her to move.

"Never do this to yourself again, Elena. Never hurt yourself, ever." He whispered in a tone that sounded so sad and filled with pain to the point that as Elena stared into the ocean blue color of his eyes she felt herself nearly drown in the emotion she saw there. She nodded her head and tried to steady her breathing as she tried to formulate something to say.

"Ok." She replied. Damon nodded and looked back down to her wrists. For a short moment, he stared down at the stitches and ran the pad of his thumb over them with a gentleness she had never felt before. Elena felt her hands begin to shake and as she did so did Damon. He closed his eyes and then quickly pulled away. He leaned down, picked up the file folder from the floor and then stood in front of her. Elena stood and turned and without a word walked out of the office and down the long hallway that led back to the rest of the unit. Deep down she knew that something had changed drastically during their session that day, but she didn't want to think about the possible consequences of what the last hour might have caused.

Elena however, learned very quickly that some things you could not simply put off until later. As she made her way to the common area, she watched as Damon moved from the small room they had just met in and walk quickly to the nurse's station. She watched as he talked with the head nurse, her nurse, and then wrote hastily in a file that she was sure was hers. She watched as her nurse looked up and met her eyes and felt dread move through her as she then watched Damon sign one last form and then disappear back into the room from which he had come. Something very bad was coming and her overly happy nurse was about to deliver it to her whether she wanted it or not.

Elena sat in the common area for about twenty minutes and watched as the nurse's at the small station on the other side of the room went about their work and talked together as if they had no care in the world. It wasn't until she noticed her nurse had disappeared that she truly became worried.

"Elena?" She heard a warm voice call from behind her. Elena turned around quickly and saw her nurse, Joyce, standing behind her holding a folder and a white Styrofoam cup.

"Sweetie, would you like some tea?" She asked innocently as she held out the cup to her. Elena shook her head and faked her best smile even though her stomach had twisted into a million knots by now.

"No thank you." She replied. Joyce nodded and set the cup down on the table next to her and then sighed as she avoided Elena's eyes.

"Elena, I need to talk to you honey." She said as she sat down in the chair next to her. Elena nodded, but did not speak.

"Sweetie, your care plan has changed a little bit and I just wanted to let you know so you weren't surprised. Dr. Salvatore thinks it would be in your best interest if you started seeing one of our other psychiatrist's that specializes in grief. He wants to make sure that while you are here you are getting the best care and he thinks that Dr. Star would be the best doctor for you." She said softly as she watched Elena's face. Elena nodded, but the room around her suddenly went very quiet. She could barely hear Joyce speaking to her, but she was sure she was continuing with her obviously rehearsed speech, whether she listened or not.

"We also have some excellent counselor's on the unit that Dr. Salvatore thinks you should also see that could help you with your transition back to school and life outside of here." Joyce continued softly, the smile on her face had long since faded. Elena nodded and faked her best smile as she held back the tears that were stinging in her eyes.

"Sounds good to me, I mean if that is what the doctor thinks is best then that is what is best." She squeaked as she began to look around the room for the quickest exit.

"He is a very good doctor, Elena. He is doing what will help you the most." Joyce reassured although since Elena hadn't even objected she didn't understand why she was wasting her breath. Elena nodded and slowly pushed herself up from her seat.

"I totally understand. I am really tired though right now. Would it be okay if I lay down for a little bit?" She asked as she choked back her tears that she knew were coming within minutes whether she was in the center of the ward or in the silence of her room. Joyce nodded and stood in front of her.

"That is fine sweetie; I will make sure you are excused from the morning activities. Get some rest." She said softly as she stepped back. Elena nodded and then began to walk at the most sensible pace she could handle as she stared at the ground moving closer toward her room. She ignored the nurses that all watched her, the patients that whispered after overhearing her most recent conversation and the sound of the door opening to her right that she had come from not only a half hour before. She ignored everything and finally let herself run into her room and close it tightly behind her.

Joyce tossed the now cold cup of tea into the trash next to the nurse's station and stared down the long hallway and smiled as she saw the vision that she had expected to see standing just a few feet in front of her. A tall, slender man with the same jet black hair she remembered from the first time she saw him at only five years old, leaned up against the door of room 308 and laid his head back against the wall with his eyes closed. He held a pen in his hand and had his jaw clenched so tightly that Joyce could make out nearly every muscle in his neck. She sighed softly and then made her way slowly down the hall toward him. When she reached him she leaned back on her heels and let out a breath.

"I thought I would find you here." She said softly. Damon opened his eyes and lowered his gaze to the petite soft spoken woman and sighed as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I am simply doing my part at insuring the safety of my patients." He said in a very forced, but professional tone. Joyce nodded and tried to bite back her smile.

"Yes well, she's not your patient anymore, is she? How long has she been crying?" She asked with a sound of concern flooding her once amused tone. Damon sighed and pushed himself from the closed door.

"Twenty-seven minutes." He said tightly. Joyce nodded.

"You know, at the risk of igniting that temper that I know is lurking under all those fancy clothes…Katherine wasn't your fault Damon." She said quietly. Damon let out a sigh and smiled sarcastically.

"Oh, sure she was Joyce. Let's not lie to each other here." He said bitterly. Joyce shook her head and reached out her hand to touch his.

"Katherine was sick Damon and you were young. That girl in there is not Katherine and she will be alright." She said in a hushed tone. Damon nodded and looked down at the floor.

"The funny thing is Joyce that I'm not standing out here because I think she's like Katherine. I know she's not sick and trust me she's nothing like Katherine, I'm standing here because…" He stopped and ran his hand quickly through his hair. Joyce knew that he was nervous and even though this situation wasn't humorous she couldn't help but smile.

"Then why are you out here, Damon?" She asked. Damon stepped forward and shoved his pen into his pocket.

"I have no fucking clue. Will you make sure she is alright and then have Dr. Star report back to me on her progress?" He asked quickly as he began to move back toward the other end of the hall. Joyce nodded.

"Of course. Damon?" She asked before he could get too far away from her. Damon stopped walking and turned back toward her and said nothing as he awaited her words.

"She's not crazy and we both know that. Dr. Star is far less qualified than you are to deal with what is going on with this girl, can I ask you why you made this decision?" She asked as she stared at the man that in her eyes was still the little boy that ran around the unit behind his mother's heels playing hide and go seek with all the nurses. Damon smiled.

"She might not be crazy, Joyce. But, we both know I am." He said softly. Joyce nodded and knew that the issue was now over. Damon nodded and then slowly made his way back down the hall and returned to the patients that awaited him.

The next few days moved as if they lasted years. Elena attended her sessions with her new _female_ psychiatrist, Dr. Star and attended all of the unit's activities. She saw her counselor, took her sleeping medication, and did everything she was told. She avoided the door at the end of the hallway that she had been excited to go into only days before and never spoke of her original admitting doctor to anyone. She simply went about her remaining time on the unit and even though she hurt inside from her loss of the first person that had listened to her since her parents had died, she did actually feel better.

By Friday of that week, Elena received notice that she would be released on Saturday morning. She completed all of her necessary paperwork, created a safety plan and even got Dr. Star's contact information so that she could see her once she was back home and adjusting back to life. Friday night, she packed up her things and lay in bed all night and stared at the ceiling as she felt herself tempted to beg the nurses for even stronger sleeping pills.

After hours of staring at the cracks in the ceiling above her uncomfortable hospital bed, Saturday morning finally arrived. Elena gathered her things and followed Joyce out of her room and told the rest of the staff good-bye.

"Here are your discharge papers Elena, do you have a ride home sweetheart?" Joyce asked as she walked Elena down the hallway toward the elevator. Elena nodded.

"Yeah, my friend Caroline is meeting me out front. Thank you Joyce, for everything." She said softly as she threw her nap sack over her shoulder and folded her papers in her hand. Joyce nodded.

"Good." She said softly.

Elena and Joyce rode down the elevator to the hospital lobby in silence as Elena tried to put on her happiest face to show Caroline so she wasn't grilled for too long about her hospital stay. She was glad that Caroline had found her when she had and that she was as caring of a friend as she was, but frankly talking anymore about this week than she had to was just unnecessary.

"Good luck, Elena. I wish you the best sweetie. You are going to be just fine." Joyce said as she gave Elena a short hug in front of the hospitals main entrance. Elena nodded and smiled as she pulled away from the woman and turned toward the door.

"Take care Joyce." Elena said softly as she tried to memorize the sweet smile on the nurse's face and then slowly walked out the doors and made her way to the sidewalk to wait for Caroline.

Elena stood on the sidewalk and tapped her foot against the pavement as she waited for Caroline who was late as usual. After a few moments of humming to the hospital music she could still hear from outside, she finally unfolded her discharge papers and began to read them over. She read over her safety plan, doctor recommendations and then the long list of signatures that freed her from the establishment. Elena was just about to fold the papers back up and put them in her pocket when she noticed the after care section of her papers had been crossed out. She squinted her eyes and felt her heart sink into her chest as she saw messy and obviously male handwriting written underneath Dr. Star's now illegible contact information.

_For after care please call 510-235-1619 –Dr. Damon Salvatore_

.

**OK, so what did we think of that everyone? We had to have a little sexual tension, a little angst and finally a free Elena. I should have the next chapter up tonight as the muse is being a demanding bitch today lol. I promise to get chapters up quickly as I plan to get this story moving and to the good parts quickly. What did you all think? Please read and review as your comments help me to be inspired to write. I so appreciate all of you reading and thank you for the sharing in my craziness Review me **


	4. Chapter Three: Responsible Choices

_**Chapter Three: Responsible Choices**_

"_Temptation likes best those who think they have a natural immunity, for it may laugh all the harder when they succumb."_

― _Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland - For a Little While_

_Freedom was highly overrated._ This was the cold hard truth that Elena Gilbert had finally come to accept about one week after her release from St. Mary's hospital. It wasn't that she didn't like the fact that her shoes now had laces, her sweatpants had drawstrings, and she was free to use her hairdryer as she pleased, no none of that was the problem at all. The problem was that now that she was back in the peaceful (yet unnerving) silence of her bedroom she was still plagued with the same chaotic thoughts that had controlled her mind in the hospital only now she didn't have the benefit of powerful sleep aides that at least the psych ward had provided. No, now she was on her own, she was on her own and staring at the ceiling at nearly three in the morning thinking about the phone number that taunted her from only a few feet away.

If anyone had thought that Elena had been crazy when she first stepped onto the third floor psych ward, she wished they could see her now so they could truly see what bonefide crazy really looked like. For the past seven days Elena had created a ritual that both served to readjust her back to her real life and destroy it beautifully at the same time. She would wake up in the morning, go for a run, shower, make her way to her classes, come home and do her homework and then stare at her crumpled hospital discharge papers until she finally convinced herself to go to bed where she would then lay awake and stare at the ceiling until her alarm finally went off once again. Deep inside Elena knew that she could not see Dr. Salvatore. There was no way in hell that she was going to make any mental progress if she had to sit in a room with that man once a week and watch him run his fingers over his impossibly irresistible mouth as he asked her questions about the problems she was desperately trying to forget. She had originally considered throwing away her discharge papers and simply calling the hospital and asking for Dr. Star's information instead. At first this had seemed like an excellent plan to Elena since that had originally been part of her suggested treatment plan, but then she realized that she didn't want to risk the questioning of why she didn't want to see the doctor that had updated said treatment plan at the last minute so that idea had been thrown out the window. She had also considered actually calling the number on the paper, but then when the receptionist offered her appointment times, she had planned on making it seem like her school schedule was simply too hectic and then opting out of treatment due to her desperate need to graduate and move as far away from any city that Dr. Salvatore could occupy as possible.

Instead of her two original ideas,however, Elena chose a different course of action that only the power of sleep deprivation could possibly fuel. She decided that she was going to call Dr. Salvatore's office and since it was three in the morning and she knew that no one would answer, she would simply leave a message letting the doctor know that her insurance did not cover him as a provider and that she would be seeking psychiatric care from another doctor. She planned to then thank him for his time and google Dr. Star's contact information on her laptop. Yes, this was a great plan she was sure of it. He could never argue with the fact that her insurance didn't cover him and he knew damn well that since she was a college student she could definitely not afford him at one hundred and fifty dollars per hour. This was going to work, she was going to leave a message and then finally get the sleep that she had been desperately missing ever since she first saw his annoyingly blue eyes and slowly began to lose her mind.

With a newfound determination, Elena pushed herself out of bed and turned on the lamp that sat on her nightstand. She quickly made her way over to her dresser where her crumbled discharge papers lay and unplugged her cellphone from the charger before making her way back to her bed. She dialed the number scrawled on the bottom of the page with shaky fingers and then took a long deep breath as she waited for the office answering machine to give her the peace that she believed she so rightfully deserved.

"Hello?" A deep voice asked after the phone's third ring and jolted Elena from the speech she was currently rehearsing in her head.

"Umm…hello?" She whispered shakily as she suddenly prayed that she had mis-dialed the number on the page and that her biggest issue of the night was going to be apologizing to some poor man that she had woken up due to her insane attempt to ever possibly sleep again.

"Who is this?" The deep voice asked as Elena heard a rustling of blankets in the background. Elena took in a deep breath and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she began to twist her hands in her lap.

"I am sorry; I think I have the wrong number." She said quickly as she slid her index finger to the end button on her phone and prayed for the strength to push it.

"Who were you trying to reach?" The man asked curiously, that should have been Elena's first clue, but she ignored the clues. Instead, she settled herself in the denial that she lived in and then straightened herself up on her bed and tried to pretend that it was completely normal for her to be making this call in the middle of the night.

"I was trying to reach Dr. Salvatore's office, I apologize I must have misdialed. Have a good night." She said quickly in her most professional tone. The line was silent for a moment.

"Elena?" The man asked and suddenly Elena felt her stomach twist into knots and her heart go from zero to sixty in less than a second in her chest.

"Dr. Salvatore." She whispered in a breathy tone that she remembered from the last time she was being spoken to by the good doctor, but hoped had died the second he pushed her off on another doctor without so much as a good-bye.

"Are you alright, Elena?" Damon asked and Elena heard a hint of concern flood through his voice. Elena sighed and put her hand on her hip as she tried to make herself appear put together even though she was in her pajama's and the man on the other line could in no way see her.

"Oh yes, I am fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?" She asked defensively as she stood from her bed and began pacing the length of her bedroom. Damon laughed quietly and then sighed.

"Well, you are calling me in the middle of the night and you sound like you are about three steps from a panic attack so I just made an educated guess." He said and even though she couldn't see him, Elena knew he was smirking. God, she hated it when he smirked.

"I am nowhere near a panic attack, thank you doctor. I was simply calling your office because I wanted to let you know that my insurance doesn't cover you as a private provider and that I will be seeking psychiatric care from Dr. Star. I wanted to thank you for your help and your referral as I think that Dr. Star is helping me very much." She said quickly and smiled as she mentally patted herself on the back for her incredible speech. Damon sighed on the other end of the line.

"First of all, you are plenty close to a panic attack because I can practically hear your heart beating through the phone. Secondly, Dr. Star and I are in the same network so if your insurance covers her then it definitely covers me and lastly you are not calling my office, Elena." He said smoothly with a sound of triumph in his voice. Elena swallowed and tried to think of how to dig herself out of the hole she had put herself in so quickly, but froze before she could thoroughly formulate a plan.

"You gave me…your cell phone number?" She asked quietly as she bit down on her bottom lip and began to walk faster across her cream colored carpeting. There was a silence on the other end of the line.

"Yes, I did." Damon replied softly. Elena swallowed roughly.

"I want to see Dr. Star." She whispered in a small voice as her body temperature began to rise.

"No you don't." Damon replied in a low tone that reminded her of the tone he had used the last time they had been in the same room together.

"Yes, I do. She is a great doctor, she specializes in grief and she has helped me a lot." She said slightly louder as she tried to find her strength and remind herself that she was in charge, not Dr. Salvatore. There was a sigh on the other end of the line once again.

"No, Dr. Star does not specialize in grief, I do." He said in almost a whisper and suddenly Elena felt her blood begin to boil as she felt the nervous anticipation in her body quickly replaced with a blind rage.

"You mother fucker." She said as she balled her fists at her sides and began to pace her room faster as she stomped her feet.

"Elena, listen to me. I know that you are upset about what happened at the hospital, but it was in your best interest. You were recovering from trauma and you needed a doctor that would be kind and gentle with you." He assured, but Elena barely heard his words, she only saw red.

"No, I needed a doctor that was female. Isn't that what you mean, Dr. Salvatore?" Elena asked sarcastically as her voice grew louder with her every word.

"No, that is not what I meant. I would have sent you to any doctor in that hospital if I thought they could help you. I could have given a shit if they were male or female." He said as his voice grew louder to match Elena's anger. Elena sighed and ran her fingers through her hair hastily.

"Yes, I'm sure you would have. Just as long as they were ugly or maybe over the age of sixty." She said between her teeth and even though she was sure she had said more than she should, she could have cared less. She had been pissed at this man ever since he had third party dumped her the week before.

"Elena, you need to calm down. I did what was best for you during your stay in the hospital and you know that." Damon replied in a slightly more professional tone. Elena rolled her eyes as she kicked her bedroom wall and then quietly cursed herself for kicking a wall with her barefoot as pain shot through her toes.

"Don't tell me to calm down, you are not my doctor and you have no say in how I act or anything that I do for that matter. I just need to know why I was pushed off on Dr. Star when you specialized in the whole fucking reason I was in the hospital in the first place. Please, Dr. Salvatore please enlighten me on why I was I was switched to Dr. Star?" Elena asked in a bitter tone as she put her hand on her hip and stared at the wall in anger as she pretended she was looking at the man on the other line. There was a silence and then Elena heard Damon take a deep breath before he spoke.

"Because she wasn't me." He replied through clenched teeth. Elena froze mid-step in the center of her bedroom and felt her heart sink into her stomach.

"I don't know what I did to you, Dr. Salvatore, but I am sorry. I realize that I yelled at you in your office that day, but I apologized. Why wasn't that enough?" Elena asked as her voice began to shake and tears started to sting in her eyes. She had went from filled with rage to filled with sadness in a matter of minutes and suddenly wondered if maybe she should be seeing a doctor for bipolar disorder instead of grief.

"Elena, I didn't request for you to be switched to Dr. Star because you yelled at me." Damon answered in a softer tone as he sensed Elena's sadness. Elena shrugged her shoulders and then leaned back against the wall by her window. Slowly, she let herself sink down until she was sitting on the plush carpet of her floor.

"Then why did you bolt on me?" She asked softly. Damon sighed and cleared his throat.

"Do you remember the end of our session the last time that I met with you?" He asked in a gentle voice. Elena nodded as her hands heated at the memory of Damon's touch.

"Yes, I do." She whispered as she looked down at her fingers.

"Elena, the hospital has very strict rules on patient doctor relationships. I am not supposed to tell you about my life, I am definitely not supposed to flirt with you and…" Damon stopped and took in another deep breath.

"What?" Elena asked as she felt her heart come back to life in her chest.

"I'm not supposed to touch patients, Elena, ever. I touched you during our first session and I told myself that I wouldn't do it again and then I completely lost control during our last session and touched you yet again. I knew that if I continued to see you I would lose my job." Damon said in a strained voice. Elena closed her eyes and felt both her rage and sadness leave her body as she felt goose bumps come to life on her skin.

"I don't think they would do anything to you for how you touched me, Damon. You touched my face, my arm, and my hands. I highly see that as a fireable offense." She said in a low voice as she tried to convince herself that this conversation was some sleep deprived fantasy that she was simply imagining.

"I wouldn't have stopped if I would have continued to see you, Elena." He said softly. Elena closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall behind her as she felt her breath come out faster.

"So, touching your patients gets you fired then, huh?" She asked as she swallowed and felt her body become even warmer than before. Damon cleared his throat.

"No, but fucking them does." He said quietly. Elena felt her heart jump in her chest and she laughed nervously because she knew if she didn't laugh she was going to do something much worse.

"Um, alright so just for the sake of my amusement then, if all of this is true, then why did you change my care plan and put your phone number on there instead? I mean if you were so concerned about your career, why do that?" She asked as she pretended that the doctor she had been drooling over for over a week had not just said he wanted to fuck her.

"I'm a masochist, Elena. I couldn't just let you walk out of that hospital and never see you again. I figured this was the only way to see you." He said softly. Elena looked down at the floor and let out a breath.

"You can't be my doctor, Damon. I think it's best that I stick to my original care plan and see Dr. Star." She said quietly.

"Dr. Star's an idiot." Damon said bitterly and Elena smiled softly as she heard the anger in his voice from his possible loss in the situation.

"Please understand why I can't see you again." Elena whispered as her smile fell from her lips and she realized that even though she hated saying those words, they were the truth. She needed to be strong, responsible and do the right thing. Sleeping with her psychiatrist or even entertaining that idea was definitely not the right thing and she knew deep down even Damon knew that.

"I understand why you can't see me as a doctor Elena, but why can't you see me personally?" He asked and Elena could feel the disappointment in his voice as she looked down at her hand and raised it to her lips. She sighed and began to chew on her now thoroughly chipped thumb nail.

"I just don't think it's a good idea." Elena replied softly. There was a long silence.

"I understand, Ms. Gilbert. I wish you the best of luck with Dr. Star." Damon replied in a clipped and professional tone that signaled to Elena that his walls of protection were completely in place and any previous statements he might have made about his feelings for her were now retracted and filed neatly away.

"Good night, Dr. Salvatore." Elena whispered softly as she closed her eyes and tried to keep her resolve to stay strong for as long as possible.

"Good night, Ms. Gilbert." Damon replied in a cold and detached tone just as the line went dead.

Elena sat on her bedroom floor and stared down at her cellphone until the sun came up a few hours after her call with Damon had ended. Once she finally saw the sun cross over the horizon, she finally picked herself up and got ready for her morning classes.

Even as Elena drove down the highway toward the University the temptation to call Damon was nearly overwhelming. She wanted desperately to call him and apologize for her rash decision that she never wanted to see him again and explain to him that she simply was just trying to do the right thing. She wanted to tell him that she did want to see him again and that he had been on her mind since the moment she had met him that morning in that small hospital room. However, being the ever difficult creature that Elena Gilbert was she did none of those things. Instead, she threw her cellphone in her purse and turned it on silent as she pulled into the Starbucks parking lot. Dr. Salvatore had left her when she needed him and just because he wanted to get in her panties now, did not mean he was going to get his way. If he was so interested in her he could have explained all this to her the week before. She had cried far longer over a man she had known for only two days and if Dr. Salvatore wanted her now, well he could be the one to suffer.

It was about ten after eight when Elena finally snuck her way in to the Art History lecture hall that she was now late for…again. She stole at seat in the back of the room and dropped her bag on the floor as she swore to high heaven that if Starbucks didn't get more help, then she was going to file a formal complaint.

"Don't worry, you didn't miss much. Mr. Steven's has been going on and on for the past five minutes about his exciting conference in New York that he went to this weekend." A male voice said from beside her. Elena slowly turned and smiled when she saw a pair of bright green eyes and a friendly smile staring back at her.

"Well, good to know that my coffee run didn't ruin my chances of passing the exam. I'm Elena." She said with a smile as she stuck out her hand to the copper haired man in front of her.

"I'm Stefan." The man said with a smile and shook her hand as he nodded politely. Elena's smile widened and for the first time since the week before, she let Dr. Salvatore slip from her mind.

**OK, so I know you are all probably cursing my name by now and trust me I am not doing this to be mean I swear! This is important to the plot and I swear I have a lemon coming by end of day today and it won't be with Stefan;) I know this chapter is short, but it was necessary for the story line. I am hoping (as long as my muse cooperates) to have another chapter or two by end of the day. I really am feeling the story so I'm trying to strike while the iron is hot. How did everyone like the phone conversation between Damon and Elena? I couldn't just put them together that easily could I? Who would read the story then? Please keep reading and review and let me know what you think. More to come! Thank you for reading **

**P.S. Oh and to answer a question I forgot to answer, yes, there is a small influence of Fifty Shades in my story, plus I just really love a controlling Damon and listening to Elena's mind ramble Thanks!**


	5. Chapter Four: Secret Words of Fire

_**Chapter Four: Secret Words of Fire**_

"_You have corrupted my imagination and inflamed my blood..."_

― _Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Venus in Furs_

It was after midnight when Elena finally stumbled through the front door of her apartment on her best friend's arm giggling as if she had just heard the funniest joke that could possibly have ever been told.

"You know I love you Elena, but you have a boyfriend now, that should have freed me from my previous obligation of being your designated driver." Caroline said with a frustrated smile as she kicked the door closed behind her and tightened her grasp around her incredibly intoxicated friend.

"Stefan has a very important exam tomorrow, Caroline. He simply has no time to chauffeur me around after I've had a few too many drinks." Elena slurred as she fell from Caroline's arm onto the small sofa that sat in the center of their living room. Caroline smiled and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You had more than a few drinks, Elena. You almost drank more than the entire Lacrosse team. What's been going on with you lately? You seem different." Caroline said as she studied her friend that swayed on the couch in a purple cocktail dress that she mentally reminded herself to steal as soon as Elena passed out.

"I am different, Caroline. I am sooo happy. Stefan is amazing. He is smart, sweet, and buys me roses for no reason. That is a good man right there." Elena mumbled with an over exaggerated nod as she pushed herself up from the couch and stumbled backwards slightly before finding her footing. Caroline smiled and nodded as she bit down on her glossy bottom lip.

"You hate roses, Elena. Don't you think after this long you should tell him that already?" Caroline asked sweetly. Elena shook her head as she started making her way down the hall toward her bedroom.

"All girls love roses, I just didn't realize that I loved them until he got them for me. He is perfect Care." Elena said as she continued making her way down the hallway. Caroline smiled and followed behind her friend to make sure she didn't have a head on collision with the wall as she let out a sigh.

"Sweetie, at the risk of giving you a speech that you are sure to not remember tomorrow, I will make this short. There is no such thing as the perfect man and my guess is if you keep having to point out to me how perfect Stefan is…well you are really trying to convince yourself, not me." She said as she turned on the light to Elena's room and began to pull down the covers on the bed awaiting Elena's unavoidable collapse into it.

"You're wrong Care, he's amazing. Care, can I ask you something?" Elena mumbled as she fell down into her bed and let Caroline cover her up.

"Sure." Caroline said as she sat down on the bed and smoothed Elena's chocolate brown hair away from her face. She had always been criticized for being too mothering, but with Elena she couldn't help it. Ever since the night she had come home and found her best friend laying on the floor of her bathroom covered in blood, she had done everything she could to make sure that she was always alright.

"Do you like Stefan?" She asked as her brown eyes met Caroline's blue ones. Caroline smiled and flipped her perfectly straightened blonde hair behind her shoulder.

"He is a very nice guy, Elena." She said softly. Elena widened her stare at her friend and tried to get her double vision under control before she ended up spending the night praying to the porcelain god's.

"You didn't answer my question." Elena mumbled quietly. Caroline sighed and sat back slightly on the bed.

"I like him just fine Elena, but unfortunately, I think you are trying far too hard to like him yourself and sweetie, he's your boyfriend." She said softly as she pushed herself up to stand. Elena nodded and felt her eyes start to close without her permission.

"Get some sleep; I'll see you in the morning." Caroline said as she turned out the light and with a click of the door she was gone.

Elena lay in her bed and watched her bedside clock move for the next hour. Even after nearly five tequila shots and more beers than she could count, she still couldn't get to sleep. Insomnia was a bitch and it was a bitch that apparently was angry with her.

By the time that two o'clock rolled around, Elena finally reached for her phone. Caroline had been sweet enough to leave it next to her bed and she tried to remind herself through her drunken haze to thank her for it in the morning. It wasn't like Elena to drink, but lately she had been doing more and more things to distract herself from the voice inside of her head that was screaming that even though everything seemed perfect it was far from it.

It had been nearly a year since Elena had first met Stefan in the Art History class that she had nearly not even attended due to the phone call that she no longer even acknowledged had ever happened. Stefan and her had become fast friends and before she knew it they were studying together, talking on the phone and getting coffee every morning before class at the bistro on campus. After a few months of friendship, things progressed into more and by the time the new semester had started they had begun dating.

Stefan was the sweetest guy that Elena had ever met. He took her out every weekend, had a light hearted humor that always made her smile and had even told her he loved her first just two months before. Elena really did have strong feelings for Stefan, but something about their relationship still left her feeling slightly empty inside and she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

The bright light of Elena's phone seemed to burn her eyes as she touched the menu button and started scrolling through her recent texts, calls and emails looking for something to distract her mind from her relationship woes with her perfect boyfriend. Finally, after about five minutes of searching she found exactly what she was looking for in her contact list.

_Do not call._ Do not call was what the listing read in her phone and even though she looked at the number nearly every day for the past year, she had never had the guts to actually press send and call it. Tonight, however, was different. Elena had liquid courage and she planned to use it before it was gone.

It only took a second for Elena's perfectly manicured finger to hit the button she had been waiting to hit for nearly twelve months and then what felt like an eternity until she heard the voice that immediately brought her heart to life finally come on the line.

"Hello?" The thick velvet voice asked into the phone as Elena closed her eyes and considered hanging up.

"Hey." Elena said softly as her heart vibrated throughout her entire body. There was a silence on the other line.

"Hello, Ms. Gilbert." Damon said softly into the phone and suddenly Elena felt her skin begin to prickle as the voice she had been waiting so long to hear seemed to caress her body with every word.

"Hello, Dr. Salvatore." She said as she began to twist her hair between her fingers.

"It's been a very long time since I've heard your voice. Are you alright?" Damon asked and suddenly Elena remembered she was calling a shrink in the middle of the night and the last time she had done so she had thrown a fit on the phone, so yeah this probably seemed odd.

"I'm alright, no wait, I'm fantastic!" Elena said with faked enthusiasm as she willed herself to be strong and stick it to the man that she had been dreaming about sticking it to her for far too long for her to admit, even when in the state she was in.

"How drunk are you?" Damon asked in a cocky tone and Elena could hear the smile on his lips as he spoke.

"I have had a few drinks, but I am not drunk. I am happy; do you want to hear about how happy I am Dr. Salvatore?" She asked in a sarcastic bitchy tone. Damon laughed and she imagined that he licked his lips before he next spoke.

"Alright, I'll bite. How happy are you, Elena?" He asked in a smooth low voice that made her insides tense deliciously.

"I am soooo happy. I am now a junior at the University and my grades are awesome! I got a new car last year and I got nearly four hours of sleep last night which is two more than I usually get, so I am excellent." She said with a smile as she stuck out her tongue to the phone. If Caroline could have seen her in that moment she would have taken the phone away, but Caroline was not there so Elena could do whatever she wanted.

"I am glad that you are so happy. Anything else exciting going on? Did you rescue a panda bear and return it to safety as well?" Damon asked sarcastically and Elena seriously considered actually hanging up on him. But, she didn't, that wouldn't have served her greater purpose.

"No, I did not rescue a panda bear, but yes there is something else exciting going on. I have a boyfriend and he is perfect." She said proudly as she put her hand on her hip as she lay on her bed. She was sure she looked ridiculous, but no one could see her and she didn't care. There was a small silence on the line.

"Wow, you have a perfect boyfriend and I'm sure he is dreamy. I do have one question though?" Damon asked cockily as he took in a deep breath.

"What?" Elena asked with a smile still plastered on her face.

"If he is so perfect and you are so happy, why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" Damon asked softly and suddenly Elena's smile faded. She bit down on her lip and seriously considered actually hanging up this time, but once again she didn't.

"I just wanted you to know that I was doing well. Dr. Star is a great doctor, see." She said as she tried to keep her tone bitchy, but was losing her battle quickly.

"You don't see Dr. Star, Elena. You never made a follow-up appointment with her." Damon said matter of factly and Elena felt her heart begin to speed up once again. She swallowed roughly and began twisting her hair once again.

"You checked up on me?" She asked softly.

"Of course I checked up on you. I wanted to call you after a month when I found out you had never made an appointment, but after the last conversation we had I didn't think that was appropriate. You should have followed your treatment plan, Elena. After what you went through you need at least some counseling." Damon said softly and Elena felt her lip begin to tremble as she felt her plan to rub her new fun filled life in Damon's face begin to crumble around her.

"I didn't call you so that you could give me medical advice Damon." She said in a soft, but edgy tone.

"Then why did you call me?" Damon asked with a sigh. Elena bit down on her lip once again.

"I wanted to say hello, and see how your life was going. Are you doctor of the year yet?" She asked in both a gentle and yet sarcastic tone. Damon laughed lightly on the other end of the line.

"No, I'm not but I did move into a new office and stopped attending to the hospital. I work strictly as a private practitioner now." He said and she could tell he was at least smiling a little bit.

"Why did you stop working at the hospital?" Elena asked against the advice of the voice in her head that wanted to live in the bliss of denial.

"Too many crazy chicks trying to get in my pants, it was draining." He quipped and Elena laughed involuntarily and suddenly didn't feel as bad as she had a few minutes before.

"I can only imagine, that must have been horrible for you." She said with a smile as she rolled her eyes in the dark.

"It was, but you know what was worse?" He asked. Elena smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"What?" She asked.

"Finding out that the only one I actually wanted in my pants had no interest in being there." He said and suddenly the mood shifted slightly. She could tell he was still smiling, but a seriousness had moved into the room that felt very different from the tone before.

"I'm sure she wanted in your pants Damon, she just knew she had no right to be there." Elena replied softly. Damon let out a breath.

"Women and their morals." He said sarcastically and Elena could tell his smile was gone.

"Morals are important, they keep you grounded." She replied as she tried to keep her tone even.

"I want to destroy your morals, Elena." Damon said roughly and Elena felt her pulse quicken. It had been a year and it was as if it had been only a day.

"I have a boyfriend, Damon." She said quickly as she tried to recover where this conversation was headed.

"I'm not asking to be your boyfriend." He said with his voice still low and dangerous.

"I'm not sleeping with you either. You spelled it out pretty clearly on the phone the last time we talked that was what you were looking for with me and I'm not doing that, I can't do that, I am with someone." She said softly, but seemed to be trying to convince herself of the same things she was trying to also convince the man on the other line of.

"A, I'm not asking you to sleep with me, Elena. B, I apologize for crossing that line on the phone the last time we spoke, but I cannot help that I find myself drawn to you. I didn't mean for it to sound like I just wanted to sleep with you and then move along, I just am not so great at expressing things sometimes. And C, well…what I just said." He said quickly and Elena smiled.

"Wow, a shrink that can't express his feelings, alert the media." She said softly. Damon laughed.

"So you called, I answered and now here we sit. What do you want, Elena?" He asked softly and suddenly Elena felt her skin begin to burn with the temptation that seemed to be dripping from every word that Damon spoke to her.

"I told you, I just wanted to see how you were." She said quickly.

"I am fine and you are excellent, we covered that. What else?" He asked in a determined and controlling tone.

"Nothing, I mean it's late." She said softly.

"I want to see you." He said quickly. Elena shook her head and began to wonder if she should wake up Caroline so that someone would take the phone away from her and hide it.

"No, I'm sorry I can't." She said in a weak tone.

"You can't or you won't?" Damon asked and suddenly Elena felt like she was back in that hospital room. He had put on his doctor pants and was digging in her brain like a freaking crazed maniac searching for gold.

"Both." She whispered.

"Where are you?" He asked defiantly.

"In my bedroom, where are you?" She asked sarcastically.

"In my living room, having a much needed drink." He said with a sigh and Elena could hear the clatter of ice against glass and assumed his need for a drink had now been fulfilled.

"I had about ten much needed drinks earlier." She said with a smile. Damon laughed softly on the other end of the line.

"So why aren't you having drunken sex with Mr. Perfect then?" He asked with sound of annoyance in his tone. Elena sighed and sank down further in her covers.

"He has an exam tomorrow, he stayed in tonight." She said softly.

"See, that's why you need to stay away from college boys, you need someone that has his nights free to take advantage of your lack of inhibitions after a night of healthy drinking." He said with a laugh and Elena smiled and rolled her eyes.

"College boys may have to occasionally study, but doctors work long hours and have desks filled with annoying yellow folders to deal with." She said sarcastically.

"I would gladly clear my desk for you, Elena." Damon said with a low and dangerous voice. Elena swallowed and felt the hair on her arms stand up and her knees begin to shake.

"I hate those folders." Elena whispered as she felt her hand begin to shake as it held her cell phone for dear life.

"Me too." Damon whispered. Elena licked her lips and tried to summon the sober part of her brain to join the conversation, but unfortunately it was either sleeping or ignoring her by this point.

"What would have happened if I would have come to see you, as my doctor?" She asked bravely as she felt her mind begin to swim.

"You know what would have happened." Damon said softly against the phone.

"You claim to care so much about your work, but yet you cross every single line that you are supposed to stay behind. What if I would have touched you in that room before you decided not to see me anymore? What if I would have grabbed your hand when you tried to pull away?" She asked with a slight defiance in her soft voice. Damon sighed.

"Elena…" Damon whispered.

"Answer me." She said slightly louder and with a little more confidence as she felt that she had control of the conversation once again.

"I would have touched every inch of skin that you hid with those damned pink sweats. I would have slid my tongue over places on your body that no one had even ever seen before. I would have made you cum so hard that you would have forgotten your own name, but you would have never forgotten mine." Damon said in a strained low voice that made Elena's muscles tighten and her blood rush painfully fast through her veins.

"I wanted you to touch me too, Damon." She whispered softly into the phone.

"Do you still?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes, but we can't." She whispered as her voice shook.

"Close your eyes, Elena." Damon said quietly. Elena thought for a moment to protest his request, but deep inside she knew in the end she was going to do it anyway, so she saved her breath and simply closed her eyes.

"They are closed." She said softly.

"I'm going to tell you what I want to do to you and as I tell you, I want you to run your hands over the part of your body I am talking about, do you understand?" Damon asked in a tone that was somewhere between his professional doctor voice and the voice she imagined a romance novel hero would have.

"I understand." She whispered and even though she was in a room far away from Damon's touch, Elena felt somehow totally under his control. She lay in her bed perfectly still and waited for his instruction as she felt her body already shake with anticipation.

"Imagine that you had finally fallen asleep tonight when you heard your bedroom door open. You sat up in your bed and found me standing in the doorway and even though you knew you should tell me to leave, you didn't because you wanted to see me just as bad as I wanted to see you. I crawled onto your bed without saying a word and moved your knees apart so I could crawl between your legs. I slid my hands up your thighs and then stopped just as I reached under that short little dress of yours." Damon started in a smooth velvet tone. Elena took in a deep breath as she allowed her hands to slide down to the tops of her thighs.

"How did you know I was wearing a dress?" She asked quietly. She heard Damon laugh lightly on the other end of the line.

"You said you went out tonight and got drunk without your boyfriend. If I know anything about women, they don't wear jeans and a T-shirt to do that." He said and Elena smiled as she realized he knew far more about women that she would ever let him know.

"What do you think I'm wearing under the dress?" She asked in an innocent voice. There was a small silence.

"Black lace panties, no bra." He said after a moment. Elena stared at the phone, damn he was good.

"Now that you have me here and have your hands under my dress, what are you going to do with me?" She asked in a voice that she recognized from the hospital room when she had originally began her flirtation with the good doctor. The slut was back from her long vacation and she had a feeling she was ready for action.

"I slide my hand up your thigh and very lightly let my finger trail over your black panties. I drag my finger over you again with a little more pressure as I pull that dress off of you with my other hand." He whispered seductively. Elena let out the breath she had been holding as she allowed her hand to drift from her thigh over her panties and bit down on her lip as she felt how wet she had become at only his first few words.

"Mmm…" She moaned quietly.

"I lean down as I continue to run my fingers over you and let my tongue run from your belly button all the way up to the center of your chest. I take one of your nipples in my mouth and suck gently until I feel you get wetter, and then I move to the other and slip my fingers under the lace." Damon whispered into the phone as Elena's back arched without her permission and her fingers slid up her body and cupped her breasts as she licked her lips.

"I want to touch you." Elena moaned as she rubbed her hands back down her slender torso and slipped two of her fingers inside her panties.

"Where?" Damon asked softly.

"I want to slide my hands up your arms as you torture me and I want to dig my nails into your skin so I can hear you moan from my touch." Elena whispered as she began sliding her fingers over her clit and imagining the feel of Damon's skin under her nails.

"Mmm…Elena I did not tell you to touch your clit baby, I really don't want to have to punish you, but I will if I am forced." He said darkly and Elena groaned as she finally pulled her hand back from her wetness and let out a breath.

"I lean down closer to your body as my fingers slide under your panties and I start to rub my fingers over your clit. You are so wet and want it so bad, but I move very slowly. I want you to want it, tell me how bad you want it Elena." Damon spoke into the phone. Elena moaned as she moved her fingers painfully slow over her clit. She knew that she didn't have to follow his instruction because, after all, he couldn't see her, but something about the way he spoke to her; it was as if she were under his spell. It wasn't just that she felt she had to do as he said; it was that she wanted to.

"Touch me Damon, I want you so bad. Kiss me; I want to feel your mouth on me." Elena moaned as she licked her lips.

"I'm leaning over your mouth and just as I let my tongue move across your bottom lip, I push my finger inside of you. I curve my finger and press gently against the spot you crave and breathe against your mouth as I massage your wet clit." Damon whispered and Elena felt her core tighten as she pushed one of her fingers inside of her and bit her lip at the lust that seemed to drip from his every word.

"God Damon, don't stop. I want you inside of me, please." Elena begged as she felt herself quickly begin to lose any control that she might have possessed before. Damon moaned low in his throat.

"Not tonight, Elena. I want to taste you and then I want you to think about how much you want me inside of you so that when you feel me, you cum so hard it hurts." He whispered. Elena moaned and bit deeper into her lip as she continued to move her fingers over herself and felt the pressure begin to build low in her belly.

"It already hurts." Elena moaned as she felt the room around her begin to spin. Damon laughed low to himself on the other end of the line.

"Oh baby, you don't know what pain is." He whispered. Elena groaned and felt sweat begin to bead on her forehead.

"Now, I'm going to slide my tongue over your chin, down your neck and over your chest. I'm biting my way over your ribcage and then letting my tongue dip down the curve of your hip and slide over your hipbone until I am just over that delicious pussy of yours." Damon said as he swallowed roughly. Elena groaned as she moved her fingers faster and imagined that she could see Damon's burning blue eyes settled between her thighs.

"Damon…" She moaned as she felt her breathing increase once again.

"I keep my eyes on you as I slide my tongue down over your clit and then lower myself between your thighs so that I can lick that sweet taste off your skin." Damon continued and as Elena heard his words she swore the room actually moved around her because she felt like she was about to fall off her bed. Her fingers moved quickly over her soaking wet skin and her back arched to the point that the crown of her head was now the only thing resting on her pillow.

"Oh my God." Elena moaned as surges of electrical fire coursed throughout her body.

"Does that feel good baby?" Damon asked and she could hear the need in his voice that so far he had done an excellent job of containing.

"Yes, don't stop. Please Damon." Elena begged as she worked her core faster.

"I am licking my tongue over your pussy and then I suck your clit into my mouth and suck hard as I feel you start to shake around me. I dig my fingers into your hips and pull you as close to my mouth as I can and the feeling of how your body shakes against me makes me so hard I can hardly keep from burying myself deep inside of you." Damon groaned as Elena heard his breath hit the phone in fast pants. Elena moaned.

"Please, Damon. I want you inside of me. Let me taste you, anything. I need you so bad." She begged as she felt her body shake with the first wave of her orgasm beginning to build low inside of her.

"You're close, aren't you baby? I can taste how fucking wet you are. Are you going to cum in my mouth and let me taste how sweet your pussy is?" Damon asked in a strong, but desperate voice. Elena gasped as she felt her muscles begin to tighten and she bit down on her lip.

"Yes, God Damon, please. I want you to taste me. Please don't stop." She begged as she felt sweat beginning to roll in hot streams down her neck and chest.

"Alright baby, I'm ready to taste you. You want to feel me inside of you?" Damon asked. Elena let out a noise that sounded like something between a cry and a primal growl.

"God yes." She moaned.

"I know you are close so I push my finger inside of you again and find that sweet spot that makes you crazy as I pull my mouth back from you slowly." Damon said slowly. Elena moaned, she was completely lost by now.

"Yes." Was all she managed to say.

"Stop moving your hand Elena." Damon said forcefully. Elena groaned and opened her eyes.

"What? Why?" She begged into the phone as she pulled her trembling fingers from her now aching core.

"Stop moving your hand and think about what it would feel like to have my fingers inside you. How it would feel to have my lips just over the sweet skin that I just licked and think about how bad you want me inside of you. Do you feel it?" Damon asked in a pant through the phone. Elena nodded as her fingers trembled beside her body and her core throbbed.

"Yes, I feel it." Elena moaned.

"Imagine that I dropped my mouth back to your core and as I push my finger deep inside of you, I take your clit in my mouth and suck as hard as I can as I let my tongue massage your skin. You want to come for me, don't you baby?" Damon asked and Elena felt her body tighten as her mouth watered.

"Yes, God yes Damon. Don't stop." Elena moaned.

"Slide your hand up into your hair and pull it just like I would. I'm curving your body up as I suck harder on your pussy. I want you to take your other hand and hold on to the side of your bed." Damon instructed and Elena felt a tidal wave begin to build inside of her as she slid her fingers into her hair and grip the side of her bed.

"Yes Damon, please. God, I'll do whatever you say, just don't stop." She begged as she thrashed in her sheets. Damon let out a shaky breath and Elena heard him swallow.

"I push my tongue over your clit and groan because you taste so fucking good. Come for me Elena. Let me taste you, I want you to come…now." Damon said forcefully into the phone and as if he had flipped a switch inside of her, Elena felt her world fall apart.

"Damon, fuck!" Elena screamed as she felt her core contract painfully tight as wave after wave of pure pleasure washed over her entire body. She screamed as her orgasm ripped through her and seemed to seep from her every pore as she could feel Damon's mouth on her body and his words in her mind. Colors that she didn't know existed burst behind her eyes and her breathing came out in ragged pants that made her sound as if she were having some sort of asthmatic episode. She rode out the waves that consumed her and then slowly floated back down to the world beneath her.

"How'd that feel?" Damon asked with a sound of triumph in his voice once Elena's screams had finally died down. Elena let out a sigh as her body slowly stopped trembling and her vision began to clear.

"Wow." She said as she suddenly felt incredibly sober and slightly embarrassed.

"I will take that as a compliment." Damon said with a small laugh. Elena smiled and began to twist her fingers in her hair.

"How did you…do that?" She asked trying to figure out the mechanics of what had just happened. Damon sighed.

"I've had my share of long distance relationships." He said. Elena nodded.

"I…um…" She stuttered as she tried to figure out exactly what to say after what they had just done. Damon laughed on the other end of the line.

"Elena, I don't think we need to have the conversation that you are already obsessing about in your head. We had fun, it was harmless and now I have something to think about when I take a much needed cold shower." He said sarcastically. Elena sighed and smiled.

"Lucky shower." She said softly. There was a silence.

"I would say you should come join me, but we both know what your answer would be." He said with a softness to his tone. Elena stared up at her ceiling.

"I want to talk to you again." She said instinctively.

"I would want to talk to me again to." He said in a cocky tone. Elena rolled her eyes.

"You're an ass." She huffed.

"So I've been told." He said and it made her smile that she could hear the smile on his lips.

"Good night, Elena." Damon's voice said softly onto the line.

"Good night, Damon." She whispered softly and just like that, he was gone.

Elena lay in bed for the next hour and stared up at her ceiling. She wanted to over analyze what had happened and she wanted to feel guilty for the fact that she had verbally cheated on her boyfriend that she knew was either studying for his exam or sleeping like a decent person. Unfortunately, she couldn't bring herself to think about any of the things that she knew she should be thinking of. Instead, she lay in the silence of her bedroom and let herself finally drift to sleep as she sank deeper in the burning blue fire.

**Well, there we have it. The first delena lemon. I know they didn't really have sex, but I would say this is a promising start, don't you think? What did you all think? I haven't written smut in a little while so please let me know if I'm losing my touch. I know some of that was a little dirty, but phone sex can't exactly be clean since they aren't in the same room together. Let me know what you thought and how you like the story so far. I have fun places to go and hope you all stick with me to come along for the ride Thank you soooo much for reading and reviewing, I really love any feedback. Good night, will update tomorrow. Review please.**

**P.S. I know some of you have a concern about Elena's mental state lol. My goal in this story is not to have Elena be crazy, but to express her as being a woman that has been through a trauma that since she is trying to ignore it and create a perfect life for herself has that building against her and thus making her emotions go wacko. And yes, both Damon and Elena do act bipolar lol, but they are not nuts, they are both just slightly emotionally dysfunctional and you will find out more about that in later chapters. Also I want to mention that since Elena is dealing with very intense emotions I am writing my vision of how Elena might act (even though she is human) how vampire's are described in the show. I think that even a crazy Elena is more exciting than an Elena in denial, but I don't write the show and I still love Elena:) Anyway, let me know what you all think, thanks for reading!  
**


	6. Chapter Five: Unlimited Nights

_**Chapter Five: Unlimited Nights and Weekends**_

"_The best secrets are the most twisted"_

― _Sara Shepard, Twisted_

Damon Salvatore needed a drink. He had been awake for nearly twenty four hours and even though he knew that he had only himself to blame, the idea of going home and downing a bottle of bourbon before he fell into his bed sounded more and more tempting with every passing second. Unfortunately for him, it was two o'clock in the afternoon and he still had about ten more patients to see before he would be released from the prison that his office had recently become.

Lately, it seemed as if Mystic Falls and its surrounding areas had gone completely insane at the same time and Damon had found it nearly impossible to keep up. His days were filled with borderline teenagers, bipolar business men, narcissistic housewives, and the ever so adorable college girls with daddy issues. His nights on the other hand, well they were filled with a completely different kind of insanity…a kind that he was reluctantly becoming more and more addicted to.

_"Where are you, Damon?" _The soft sweet voice had asked just the night before.

_"I'm driving home, Elena. Where are you?"_ He had asked as he had immediately felt his pants become uncomfortably tight at the need that filled the voice on the other end of the line.

_"I'm hiding in the bathroom at my boyfriend's dorm, but I really wish I was in your car with you." _Elena had whispered sweetly and Damon remembered groaning both realizing how desperately he wanted Elena in his car at that moment and yet understanding the fact that her words were all he was ever truly going to get from her no matter how desperate he might be.

_"Why would you want to be in my car, Elena? The leather seats are awfully cold this time of year."_ He had said with a smirk as he once again began the game that they had played nearly every night for the past three months.

_"I'm sure if I was there you could think of a way to warm me up, couldn't you Damon?" _She had asked, her voice so filled with lust that with every passing night seemed to get stronger and stronger.

_"Oh, I could warm you up Elena. Why don't you tell me exactly what you would like me to do to get that blood of yours pumping."_ He had whispered and before he had the chance to come to his senses, he heard her seductive giggle on the other end of the line and knew that his drive home was going to be far better than he had been planning on.

"Dr. Salvatore?" Damon's head nurse asked as she peeked her head into his office with a smile. Damon cleared his throat and shook himself from his thoughts before he casually nodded and smiled.

"Yes, Melanie?" He asked as he began to shuffle through the paperwork on his desk to make it appear as if he had been actually working instead of torturing himself with the thought of his pseudo sex life that was making him possibly more unstable than the majority of his patients.

"Your two o'clock is here and she looks very upset today. Would you like me to send her back?" Melanie asked sweetly. Damon smiled genuinely and moved the papers to the side of his desk as he pushed himself up to stand. He felt lucky that he had found as kind of a nurse as Melanie after some of the witches he had dealt with before her. Psychiatry was a consuming profession and even though he was in no way the master of the skill, compassion was a very important thing to have if you wanted to help people rather than just make a quick buck.

"Sure, thank you Melanie." He said and Melanie smiled and then disappeared out of the door to go fetch his next patient. He looked down at the folder that sat on his desk and saw the name printed in bold lettering. _Rose,_ the folder read. Damon let out a deep sigh and then rubbed his temples with his fingers as he prayed for the compassion he knew he needed in order to survive the next hour. He wondered for a moment if it wasn't just the patients that should be medicated during sessions, but maybe the doctor's as well.

Elena sat quietly in the window seat of her bedroom and stared out over the park across the street from her apartment building and smiled as she tapped her pen against the notebook lying in her lap. She had an essay due the next day for her American Literature class and even though she had known about the assignment for weeks, it wasn't until the day before that she actually had started to work on it.

"Knock knock." Elena heard a voice say from the other side of her door as it started to open slightly. She could never understand why people would knock or ask to come in if they were going to come in before you gave an answer anyway. It just seemed like a waste of time and breath if they were going to do as they pleased in the first place.

"Hey Stefan, come on in." She said with a sarcastic smile as she watched Stefan appear in her doorway wearing a pair of jeans and a thick caramel colored sweater.

"I thought you could use some coffee. I know you have to finish your paper tonight and I didn't want you to be so tired that you couldn't focus." He said with a smile as he held a Starbucks cup out to her. Elena smiled as she took the cup and closed the notebook in her lap.

"Thank you Stefan, that was very sweet of you. How were your classes?" She asked as she pulled her legs up to her chest so that Stefan could sit down across from her.

"Not too bad. I have a sociology test on Friday that Professor Wallace just told us about today, a speech to prepare for my communications lab and I have to get my shit together for the move this weekend or you will have a boyfriend that both has failed out of college and became homeless all in the same week." He said with a smile as he leaned back against the window. Elena smiled and took a drink of her coffee (that did not have sugar in it by the way) as she nodded.

"That's right, I forgot. You are moving out of the dorms this weekend. Are you excited to have a nice big house all to yourself finally? I mean from how you described it, it sounds like the Boarding House that your family owned is amazing." She said with a smile as she sat up and didn't mind the thought at all of all the space and privacy that might actually be coming their way now that Stefan was finally leaving the dorms…as a senior.

"Umm…Elena that is actually something that I wanted to talk to you about." Stefan said slowly as he ran his fingers through his copper colored (and overly gelled) hair and dropped his emerald eyes to the floor. Elena took another sip of her coffee as she began to tap her toes against the cushion of her seat.

"Ok…" She said as she feared something horrible about to leave her boyfriend's lips. Stefan cleared his throat. He had never talked about his family with Elena and now wasn't the time he wanted to start. Their relationship had been so perfect up to this point and the last thing he wanted was to start the drama that was his family any sooner than he had to.

"Well, how would you like to go to the Grill on Friday night? I have someone that I want you to meet and then we can talk about all this boring moving stuff then, ok?" He asked shakily and Elena found herself confused on why Stefan was acting so strange about the move that he had been talking about for weeks, but now that she thought about it, never had really giving her any specific details on.

"Alright, that sounds great. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting on Friday?" She asked with a playful smile as she leaned forward and bit her bottom lip. Stefan smiled and let out a sigh.

"It's a surprise." He said as he faked a smile. Elena laughed softly.

"Alright, Mr. Mystery. Should I dress up for this surprise guest?" She asked as she wrapped her arms around her knees and raised her brow. Stefan smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"You always look beautiful, Elena. You can wear whatever you want. I probably should get going, though. I know that you need to finish your paper and I need to get cracking on packing. I will see you Friday night?" He asked as he pushed himself up to stand.

"You will see me Friday night." Elena said with a smile. Stefan nodded and then leaned down and kissed her forehead. Elena smiled and then watched as he slowly left the room. She didn't know what it was, but something about the way that Stefan had acted made her incredibly nervous. Either she was meeting his parents for the first time and he just hadn't told her yet or she was meeting some female roommate that he had been so kind to forget to mention. Either option, she didn't particularly like, but she had far too much homework to do before eleven o'clock rolled around to let herself over analyze her boyfriend's unnerving demeanor. She had lots of stuff to get accomplished before nightfall because whether she was the one to dial or he was, she knew that by eleven o'clock Stefan would be the last thing on her mind.

It was five after eleven and Elena's cell phone was so silent that she could actually hear the clock ticking on her bedside table and that said a lot since she had a digital clock. She had been lying in bed since ten-thirty, but as soon as eleven o'clock had hit and her phone still hadn't rung she truly felt psychosis begin to set in. She didn't know why it was bothering her so much that Damon hadn't called for the first night since she had made her drunken dial to him and frankly she knew she should have cared less. She had a boyfriend and he was amazing. Stefan was smart, funny, and someone that actually was physically available to touch her when she needed him to. Then on the other hand, she also happened to have a sexy doctor that called her every night and gave her multiple orgasm's via her cellphone without even being able to touch her. If nothing else, that should at least be documented as a talent or something; she wondered if that was a special skill listed on his resume? She was sure it would definitely get him more patients if it was.

Elena knew she shouldn't have cared, she shouldn't have wondered if he was out on a date or if he was screwing some nurse that had winked at him while bringing him his coffee, no it was none of her business. It was none of her business and that was exactly why by eleven- fifteen she decided to call him herself to find out exactly what wasn't any of her business.

"Hello?" A groggy voice asked about two seconds before Elena had contemplated hanging up and throwing her phone across the room.

"Hey…were you asleep?" She asked in confusion as she sat down on her bed. Damon never seemed to be asleep when she called him. He didn't seem to be the kind of person that needed to sleep. Inside her mind Damon was like some sort of sexual superhero that would never rely on such silly things as sleep.

"Yeah, I had a horrible day today. I came home, had a drink and well I guess I fell asleep after that." He said with a yawn and Elena smiled as she felt her anger suddenly begin to subside.

"Is everything, OK? Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly as she lay back on her bed. She didn't know why, but there was something very sweet about hearing Damon's tired voice on the other end of the line. He was always in control; always the one taking charge and tonight he just seemed relaxed and real.

"You really want to know about my day at work?" He asked with a surprised tone and Elena felt her heart sink for a moment as she realized that their conversations normally never really included their daily lives. Their conversations were fantasy and even though she loved it, something inside of her suddenly craved something more tangible.

"I mean, I do if you want to talk about it. If not I can let you go so you can get some sleep." She said quickly as she pulled her blankets up to her chin and twisted her fingers in her sheets.

"It was just a long day and one of the doctor's in my office insisted on taking his third vacation of the year, so things were a little backed up. Do you want me to call you tomorrow? I don't have any patients after five." He said with another yawn. Elena nodded as she felt her heart sink further in her chest as she realized their conversation was almost over.

"Sure, sounds great. Get some rest Damon." She said softly. Damon sighed and she heard the faint rustle of blankets in the background.

"Thank you. Oh, Elena?" Damon asked into the phone just before Elena pushed the end button. Elena's heart jumped slightly in her chest at the anticipation of a few more minutes of hearing his voice.

"Yeah?" She asked quietly.

"Would the fact that I was dreaming about you help in any way to get that sexually frustrated tone out of that pretty voice of yours?" Damon asked softly. Elena smiled as she could hear the devilish smirk on his lips.

"Yes, I think so." She replied softly. Damon laughed softly into the phone.

"Good. I will talk to you tomorrow then." He said. Elena smiled and bit her bottom lip.

"Good night, Damon." She whispered softly.

"Good night." He replied in almost a whisper, and then he was gone.

Elena lay awake in her bed and watched the shadows from the cars passing outside her building move across her walls as she tried to get herself to sleep before her alarm went off for a change. She was surprised that she wasn't upset that she didn't get to have her usual X rated conversation with Damon that night, but slightly unnerved by the reasoning behind it. He had been dreaming about her. That fact alone seemed to leave her far more satisfied than even the most intense orgasm that she had experienced over the past few months.

The next two days came and went just as any of the days before them had. Elena finished her literature essay and studied for her ever so quickly approaching mid-term exams. She spent her days between classes and homework and spent her nights at the mercy of the doctor that apparently had got enough sleep at the beginning of the week that he had no problem keeping her up in the nights thereafter.

By the time that Friday finally rolled around, Elena welcomed the idea of spending her night having a couple of drinks at the Grill with Stefan and his mystery guest. Even if she ended up meeting his new supermodel roommate, she figured that at least she would be doing it with alcohol in her system and after the hectic week she had, she welcomed the idea.

It was nearly seven- fifteen by the time Elena found herself running down the cobblestone sidewalk that led to the restaurant that she was supposed to be at fifteen minutes earlier, with her black stiletto heels dangling from her hand. She couldn't help the fact that she was chronically late, or that her curling iron had nearly caught on fire in her hand or that she had to return a phone call to a very overworked doctor that desperately needed her soothing words. Sure, she knew that she was probably going to hell in a hand basket for being late to a special dinner with her boyfriend so that she could talk dirty to a man that she hadn't even been in the physical presence of in over a year, but she couldn't help it. At least if she was going to hell, she was going with a smile on her face and a skip in her step.

By seven- twenty Elena finally opened the front door to the Grill and stepped into the dimly lit restaurant that after dark seemed to turn more into a night club than anything. She smoothed her hands over her black strapless mini dress and shook the chill from her body as she pushed a handful of her chocolate curls over her bare shoulder. She threw a small wave to her friend Matt that was tending the bar and then made her way through the crowds of teenagers with fake ID's toward the center of the room where she spotted Stefan's emerald eyes that seemed to sparkle once he saw her. Elena took in a deep breath and smiled as she prepared her usual speech.

"I am so sorry, Stefan. I got caught up at the library after my Anthropology class and then things just kind of went downhill from there." She lied with a smile as she finally approached the table that Stefan was sitting at, and shifted her purse to her other shoulder as she caught her breath. Stefan smiled knowingly as he stood and as he moved Elena noticed that he hadn't been alone at the table. There was a man wearing a dark shirt sitting with his back to her as he seemed to be talking on his cell phone. She squinted her eyes as she tried to make out the shadowed man in front of her, but was quickly interrupted by Stefan as he moved closer to her.

"It's alright sweetie, we just got here too." He said with a smile as he slipped his arm around her waist. Elena let out a relieved sigh as she continued to study the man she couldn't quite see.

"Great, well now that I am here are you going to finally introduce me to this mystery person?" She asked as she motioned toward the table where the shadowed man still sat.

"Of course. Hey, are you done making your hundredth call of the night finally?" Stefan asked the man that sat a few feet from them. Elena heard the man sigh and then watched as he set his phone down on the table.

"Don't get your panties in a twist Stefan." The man said as he slowly began to turn. Elena's heart jumped in her chest without her brains comprehension. She knew that voice….no….it wasn't….it couldn't be.

"Elena, I would like you to meet my very rude brother. This is Damon." He said quickly as he gestured to the man that now had finally turned to face Elena's flushed cheeks and wide eyes.

"Holy shit." Elena said softly as Stefan's words crashed around her and her eyes took in the sight before her. She stared in complete and utter shock at the man in front of her that had been a fantasy merely in her mind and a velvet voice in her ear for the past year…the past year and three months to be exact.

"Damon, this is my girlfriend, Elena." Stefan continued even though Elena had stopped listening the moment she had realized who was standing in front of her. Damon's eyes were wide and stared at Elena in both confusion and slight amusement. Finally, he shook himself from the trance that Elena was still drowning in and smiled as he licked his lips.

"Well Elena, it is a pleasure to meet you." Damon said smoothly as he offered his hand to her from across the table. Elena stumbled slightly forward as she tried to catch her breath and lifted her hand slowly.

"Likewise." Was all she could manage to spit out and she was impressed by that since she was sure that most of her body had simply shut down by that point. Damon smirked as he stepped forward and instead of giving her the handshake that she had been expecting; he gently slid his hand under hers and lifted it to his lips. He placed a soft, gentle kiss to the top of her hand and as Elena felt the softness of his mouth against her skin, she knew that she was totally screwed.

**So, what did everyone think? Of course we knew something like this was going to happen, but now that it has, whatever will happen next? Elena will not be able to hide from Damon now, so what ever will they do? Oh I know…lemons! LOL. Anyway, lots of plot and romance and lemons and fighting and delena craziness to come so please stick with me and I want to thank each and every one of you for reading and reviewing my fic's. It means a lot to me that you all are enjoying reading and I love to write so thanks. Please read and review and don't worry, we will find out more about who Joyce was, what happened with Katherine, what is Rose's role, why Stefan never told Elena about his brother and what happens when Damon and Elena don't have the protection of their cell phones to keep them in line. Will update tonight or tomorrow morning, thanks for reading! Review please **


	7. Chapter Six: Dancing Between The Flames

_**Chapter Six: Dancing Between The Flames**_

"_Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves"_

― _Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate_

Elena sat in complete silence and stared down at the table in front of her, as she tapped her nails nervously against the worn wooden surface. She had not spoken a word since Damon's mouth had touched her hand and she planned on keeping it that way as she figured her mouth had gotten her in plenty of trouble already.

"Elena, are you alright?" Stefan asked as he slid his hand over her's and moved closer to her rigid frame. Elena jumped at the feel of his touch and quickly shot back in her chair. Stefan stared at her in confusion and yet the blue eyes from across the table seemed to be enjoying the hell out of the nervous breakdown she was having in a very public place.

"Yeah, um, I'm fine. I guess I'm just tired from studying for my mid-terms." She said softly as she smiled at Stefan and prayed he couldn't see through her incredibly weak excuse for her incipient shaking.

"So, you go to school with Stefan then?" Damon interjected as he watched Elena flinch as he spoke.

"Yes, I do." Elena said without looking up as she twisted her fingers nervously together in her lap. Stefan smiled and put his hand over hers as her turned toward his brother.

"Elena and I met in an Art History class last year. She is incredibly smart. If it wasn't for her, I never would have passed." Stefan said with a smile and Elena raised her eyes and wondered why Stefan seemed to trying incredibly hard to sell her redeeming qualities to the man she refused to make eye contact with.

"How sweet. What is your major then Elena?" Damon asked and as he spoke she could feel his eyes burning holes into her head and she wondered exactly why he was subjecting her to a completely new and totally unfair brand of torture.

"I am an English major." She said softly as she finally raised her eyes so they were at least level with the table. She stared at the candle that sat just between her and Damon and seriously considered setting herself on fire just so she could leave.

"Fascinating, and what do you plan to do with your major when you get out?" Damon asked in a sarcastic tone. Elena looked up and narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out why she was being asked a string of questions that he already knew the answer to.

"I want to write." She said as she shrugged her shoulders. Damon nodded and widened his eyes.

"Romance novels?" He asked quickly. Elena looked up and nearly reached across the table and slapped the smirk off of Damon's face, but instead she was saved by the other person at the table that she had nearly forgotten still existed.

"Damon, stop grilling my girlfriend, Jesus Christ." Stefan said in an annoyed tone as he squeezed Elena's hand. Elena smiled tightly at Stefan and then returned her gaze to Damon.

"It's alright Stefan, I'm sure your brother is just trying to get to know me. And no, I do not want to write romance novels, I want to go into creative writing." She said with a strained smile as she stared down the man across from her. Damon nodded and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Interesting." He said as he held her gaze and seemed to fight her for control. Elena cleared her throat and sat up straighter in her chair.

"So what do you do for a living then, Damon, is it?" She asked as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at the raven haired man that looked like he was about to jump across the table.

"I'm a doctor." He said through clenched teeth. Elena smiled.

"How nice, what kind of doctor?" She asked sweetly as she planned her next gab quietly in her head before Damon replied. Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"Gynecologist." He said as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip. Elena's heart came to life in her chest as her stomach muscles clenched at the suggestion dripping from Damon's words. She quickly crossed her legs and shifted in her seat.

"Stop being an ass, Damon. He's not a gynecologist, Elena. Damon is a psychiatrist." Stefan said in a frustrated tone as he tightened his grip on Elena's hands. Elena nodded.

"Ah, a shrink. Sounds like you've accomplished a lot already, how old are you if you don't mind me asking?" She asked as she figured that as long as she was going to go through the current nightmare she was living, she might as well get information she had been relatively curious about for the past year.

"I'm thirty, Elena." He replied and something about the way he said her name made her legs begin to shake under the table.

"I'm twenty-two." Elena said softly and didn't know why she said it, but she somehow felt the need to respond to him.

"I realize that." Damon replied in a slightly hushed deep tone. Elena felt her heart speed up and licked her lips. Was it her or had it gotten extremely hot in there incredibly quickly?

"I'm sorry I am late, but Tyler and I…well never mind. I'm late and I'm sorry." Caroline's voice chirped from behind Elena just as the silence had become desperately awkward. Elena bolted up from her chair and turned to see her friend standing behind her in blonde curls and _her_ purple cocktail dress, already holding what she imagined to be a rum and coke.

"Caroline, you're here! Wait, why are you here?" Elena asked even though the relief that had washed over her since Caroline had walked in was far too priceless to question. Caroline smiled.

"Stefan invited me…OK, well I invited myself once I heard there was going to be some mystery guest, but he said yes so it doesn't really matter." She said with a sweet smile as she threw her purse down in the chair next to Elena.

"Caroline, we need to talk." Elena said in a hushed tone as she tried to pull her friend from the table, but it was far too late for that.

"And who is this?" Damon's smooth and cocky voice asked from across the table. Elena turned slowly and stared daggers at him hoping that he would burst into flames.

"This is my best friend, Caroline." She said with a tight smile as Caroline moved around the side of the table and raised her brow at the raven haired man watching her with a devilish smile.

"And who are you?" She asked with wide eyes as she raised the straw in her glass to her lips.

"I, am Damon Salvatore, Stefan's brother." Damon said with a smile as he stood and reached out his hand to the overly excited blonde as he heard a choke and then watched as coke shot out of Caroline's glass and onto the table.

"Caroline are you alright?" Stefan asked as he stood. Caroline coughed and covered her mouth as she turned her head toward Elena. Elena widened her eyes and suddenly Damon realized that maybe he wasn't as well-kept of a secret as he had thought.

"You're who?" Caroline asked as she stared at Damon. Damon smiled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Damon Salvatore." He repeated. Caroline froze and then quickly shook her head as she tried to get herself together.

"Oh, sorry I guess I just couldn't hear you over the music. I'm Caroline Forbes, Elena's roommate and best friend. It's very nice to finally meet you." She said with a smile and thankfully Stefan hadn't heard the _finally_ in her statement.

"Pleasure." Damon said as he shook her hand and then slowly moved back to his seat.

"Elena, I need another drink. You want one?" Caroline asked as she stared at Elena still with wide and yet amused eyes. Elena nodded and moved closer to her friend.

"Yes, I'll come with you. Stefan, I'll be right back." She said with a smile. Stefan nodded and then Elena let Caroline drag her over to the bar.

Caroline pulled Elena onto a bar stool and stared at her obviously terrified friend and tried to fight the smile and/or laughter that she believed was completely appropriate in this situation.

"That is Damon? That is Dr. Salvatore?" Caroline asked in a hushed but urgent voice. Elena nodded as she bit her lip.

"Oh yeah, that's him alright." She said as she raised her hand so that Matt could see her and hopefully pump her full of enough alcohol so that she could simply forget this night was happening.

"He's….gorgeous. No, he's beyond gorgeous, he's…I don't think there is a word for it, but he's it. What are you going to do? When did you find out he was Stefan's brother?" Caroline asked as she reached in her purse for her debit card.

"Yes Caroline, I realize he is gorgeous and I found out he was Stefan's brother about fifteen minutes before you did. Now, I am going to do the only logical thing that I can do. I am going to pretend I've never seen him before and then avoid him like the plague, change my number and possibly go into hiding." Elena said as she leaned over the bar once Matt finally approached.

"Tequila. Double. Please." Elena said with a painful smile. Matt laughed.

"That kind of night, huh?" He asked with a smile. Elena nodded.

"Oh, yeah, definitely that kind of night." She said as she laid her head down on the bar.

"You know avoiding him isn't going to work right? From everything you've told me and the way he is watching you out of the corner of his eye right now tells me that Dr. Damon isn't exactly going to let this one slide." Caroline said as she nodded toward the table they had come from. Elena raised her head slightly and saw Damon's head tilted toward them, but not making direct eye contact with either one of the women. Elena groaned.

"I am in so much trouble, Caroline." Elena moaned as she ran her fingers through her hair. Caroline smiled as she leaned against the bar.

"Yes you are honey, but as far as trouble is concerned, if you gotta be in trouble, what a hell of a man to be in trouble with." She said with a wink. Elena laughed and then reached down and picked up the double tequila shot from the bar and downed it in one drink. She flinched as the liquor burned down her throat and shook her head as she raised her hand back to Matt.

"Keep 'em coming." She said as she sat the shot glass back down on the bar. Caroline sighed and smiled as she realized it was going to be a very long night.

Damon sat at the table beside his brother and stared down at the napkin his was quickly shredding with his hands as he prayed for his pager to go off so he had a reason to run from the nightmare that was quickly swallowing him whole. He looked over at Stefan who was nursing his beer in silence and for a moment he seriously considered using the neatly wrapped knife next to him to stab his brother in the stomach. He didn't want to kill him, no it wouldn't be lethal. But, he desperately wanted to see his brother in pain and possibly even send him to the hospital so that he could get Elena alone and show her who the superior brother truly was.

"So, what do you think?" Stefan asked after taking another drink of his _light_ beer and then returning the bottle to the table. Damon shrugged.

"She seems…nice." He answered tightly as he ran his fingers over his empty crystal tumbler and wondered where the fuck their waitress had gone.

"She is. She's sweet, incredibly smart, and I really like her, Damon." Stefan said as he kept his eyes ahead of him. Damon nodded. _Oh yeah, she's super nice, Stefan. She's also incredibly hot, has a high pitched moan that can make me cum in five seconds, and has a bondage fantasy that keeps me up at night. She has been torturing my mind, my sanity and most importantly my dick for over a year now and I'm seriously thinking of throttling her because I haven't actually fucked anyone in the flesh for over ninety days now and I'm losing my goddamned mind! I know you like her little brother and think she's super swell, but just so you know I've been phone fucking her for the past three months and she probably thinks about me when you're on top of her, congrats!_ Damon screamed in his mind, but it didn't do him any good. Deep inside he knew he wasn't going to tell his brother the truth. He might have despised Stefan ever since they were kids, but he was still his brother and he supposed that should matter for something.

"I'm glad, Stefan." Damon said quietly. Stefan turned in his chair and finally looked at his older brother that he had done an excellent job of avoiding for the past few years, but knew now that game was over.

"Look, Damon. Elena means a lot to me and since I am moving into the Boarding House, she is going to be around a lot. All I am asking is that you try to control the psychopathic maniac that lives in that demented mind of yours and try to be nice to her. I want things to work with this one; I don't need you fucking it up." Stefan said coldly and that got Damon's attention. Slowly, he lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Listen here, little brother. I have put up with a lot of shit over the past few years with you and I am done. You are moving into my house and if you want to bring Elena around that is fine by me, but if you think for one second that you are going to tell me how to live and how to act while you mooch off of me so you don't have to pay rent like an actual adult, then you have another thing coming. You have been a spoiled rotten little brat ever since we were kids and I've got news for you, we aren't kids anymore. You stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours, got it?" Damon snapped as he gritted his teeth. Stefan stared at his brother with hard eyes.

"Got it, brother." Stefan said coldly and that was the end of it, for now at least.

Four tequila shots, two failed attempts at escape, and one mild nervous breakdown later, Elena found herself following Caroline back to the table where she saw two very angry looking men staring at each other as if they were trying to will the other to spontaneously combust. She smiled softly as she reached the table and felt a slight relief as Stefan smiled and stood beside her.

"You made it back, thought you got lost or something." He said with a smile as he looked her over. Elena smiled and nodded and Damon could tell she was already buzzed without her even needing to say a word.

"Yes, I am back and I did not get lost. I did, however, find out that a double tequila means two shots and I had four doubles, so that means I really had eight shots…is that a lot?" She asked with a serious concern on her face and a slight slur in her voice. Damon laughed and shook his head as he heard Caroline laugh in the seat next to him.

"Yes Elena, that is a lot. Why did you drink that much, you know you shouldn't drink, it makes you sick." Stefan said as he took her face in his hands. Damon wanted to puke, he wanted to puke and then he wanted to rip his brother's hands off and watch him bleed on the floor as he threw Elena over his shoulder and got the fuck out of there.

"I am fine, I actually feel great! I like tequila, it makes me happy." She said with smile. Damon laughed and stood from his chair.

"Tequila makes everyone happy, sweetie. Come on drunky, why don't you come dance with me before you pass out at nine o'clock on a Friday night." He said as he moved closer to her. Elena stepped back slowly, shocked by Damon's forwardness since they had supposedly just met an hour before. She watched as Damon held out his hand to her, but instinctively she slipped her hand into his.

"I don't pass out." She said in a childish voice that Damon found adorable. He smiled softly.

"No, you definitely don't." He said in a hushed tone. Elena's cheeks flushed and she quickly dropped her eyes. Damon pulled her closer to him and started to lead her toward the dance floor. He turned his head back to his brother and smiled at the cold eyes that were staring him down.

"I'm being nice, brother. You wanted me to be nice, didn't you?" Damon asked with an evil smirk on his face. Stefan tightened his jaw, but did not say a word. Caroline shook her head in her seat and smiled to herself. She wondered if she needed to record this on her phone or if Tyler would believe her when she explained this to him in the morning.

Elena let Damon lead her onto the dance floor even though every voice inside of her (including the slutty one surprisingly) was screaming at her to turn around and run as far from him as humanly possible. She knew that she had always been a glutton for punishment, but this was bordering on being just plain masochistic at this point.

"So…you are dating…my brother." Damon said slowly as he pulled Elena into his arms. Elena felt a shockwave move through her system as her body collided with Damon's and electric currents began to pulse through her, making her skin tingle.

"For the record, you did know I had a boyfriend." She said as she slid her hands around Damon's neck, but pulled her body back slightly so she wasn't pressed as tightly against him. Damon laughed quietly.

"Yes, I suppose I did. I didn't know it was my brother, however, so that definitely did shock me. You should be proud, Elena, it takes a hell of a lot to shock me." He said sarcastically as he tightened his grip on her waist and pulled her body against his. Elena let out a breath and turned her head away from Damon's.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know he was your brother. Your last name is Salvatore, his last name is Mikaelson. How the hell was I supposed to know? Stefan never talked about siblings, so I figured he didn't have any." She said defensively as she felt Damon's hands move up her back.

"Yeah, Stefan doesn't like to talk about me because I'm the one my father actually acknowledged…he on the other hand…not so much." Damon said as he turned Elena on the dance floor and moved them closer to the other side of the room. Elena narrowed her eyes shrugged her shoulders.

"Care to explain why that is?" She asked as she let her fingernails graze the back of Damon's neck. She felt goose bumps move over his skin and a shot of heat moved through her that caused her heart to pound even harder against her chest.

"My father had an affair when I was six and got his girlfriend pregnant. He begged my mother for forgiveness after the girlfriend refused to get an abortion and showed up at our house and told my mother that she was knocked up, but my mother couldn't forgive him. Instead, she kicked my father out of the house and divorced him a few months later. Stefan and I were mostly raised separately, but when I was sixteen my mother died and so I had to move in with my father, his whore and Stefan. Let's just say, we've never really gotten along for obvious reasons." Damon said between his teeth as he tightened his grip on Elena. Elena swallowed and finally raised her eyes to meet Damon's. She was close enough to him that she could feel his breath on her face and smell the familiar scent of vanilla that she remembered from her brief time with him the year before.

"I'm sorry about…" She started, but Damon smiled and shook his head.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. You told me you had a boyfriend and I didn't really care, so here we are. You wanna know something really fucked up?" He asked as his voice dropped a few octaves at the end of his question. Elena looked up at him and tried not to let the fact that she could feel his fingertips on the skin of her upper back cause her to melt at his feet.

"What?" She asked softly. Damon smiled and licked his lips.

"I still don't." He said in almost a whisper. Elena swallowed and quickly reminded herself of where she was and that her boyfriend was probably watching her like a hawk from the other side of the room.

"Damon, we can't do…whatever it is that is running through your mind right now." She said quickly as she dropped her eyes and let her hands run over the length of Damon's shoulders as she turned away.

"What is running through my mind right now is probably the same thing that is running through yours, and that is why you are freaking out." He said as he turned them once again. Elena let out a sigh and turned her head back toward Damon.

"And what exactly do you think is running through my mind, Dr. Salvatore?" She asked with thick sarcasm as she rolled her eyes. Damon's smile faded and he stared down at her with dark eyes. He lifted his hand from Elena's waist and ran the pad of his thumb over the fullness of her bottom lip.

"I think ever since you saw me you have been thinking of what it would feel like to actually have more than the sound of my voice against you tonight." He whispered in a husky voice. Elena swallowed and lifted her hand to pull Damon's away from her face, but the second that she touched his fingers she felt her pulse begin to throb at the memory of the fantasies that she had created in her mind about what is hands would feel like on her if they ever truly touched.

"Damon, please." She whispered as she tangled her fingers with his.

"Please, what?" He asked as he pulled her against him so that there was no space left between them. Elena groaned and licked her lips as she felt the cords of muscles that lay beneath Damon's shirt and jeans mold against her thin dress. She needed to get space, she needed to clear her head, and she needed to get her mind out of her panties so that she could remember that she had a boyfriend on the other side of the room that would definitely not appreciate her acting like a cat in heat with his brother.

"We have to stop, Damon. I know that what we did on the phone was wrong, but doing it in the flesh is like…really wrong. I can't do that to Stefan and it's unfair to you too. I want us to be friends and then everyone can be happy." She said softly as she avoided Damon's eyes and waited for the explosion that she expected was about to happen, but Damon remained silent for a moment and continued to move them further and further from Stefan on the other side of the room.

"How wrong did it feel a few hours ago when you were coming to the sound of my voice when you were supposed to be getting ready for this glorious family outing?" Damon asked as he stared down at Elena who continued to hide her eyes from him. Elena let out a sigh as she felt Damon's hand slip under her chin and raise her eyes to his. She bit down on her lip.

"You can't touch me like this Damon. Stefan is just on the other side of the room." She whispered. Damon stared at her, but did not drop his hand.

"Tell me you don't want me to touch you." He whispered. Elena's heart pounded and her blood rushed through her body faster with his every word. The slut inside of her finally said no to peer pressure and began shouting to beg Damon to touch her, but Elena tried to ignore her.

"Damon." She whispered.

"He can't see, Elena. He is talking to Caroline and has his back to us. Now tell me you don't want me to touch you." He said in a more forceful voice. She knew that voice. That was the voice he used about five seconds before she would be screaming his name and offering to sell her soul to the devil so long as he didn't stop.

"We can't do this. It's not right, Damon." She whispered as she felt Damon's hand slip under her chin and run down the soft curve of her throat.

"Elena, I need you to do something for me." Damon said in a strong voice as he let his fingertips run over her collarbone causing a shiver to move down her spine.

"What?" Elena asked as she looked up at him once again and felt her nerves fry inside her.

"Tell me the truth. Tell me what you want right now and after this moment I will never touch you again…until you beg me to." He said in a domineering voice as he let his fingers trail down her sides and settle back on her hips. Elena took in a deep breath and realized that if she wanted to get out of this place with her sanity intact, she probably needed to do what the crazed psychopath against her was telling her to.

"I want you to touch me, I want to feel your mouth on my skin and I want to watch you say my name because it's never sounded as good as it does coming from your lips." Elena said in a whisper as she turned her head and looked at Damon. Damon swallowed as she watched his eyes darken slightly more than they had before. She could feel his heart beating against her skin as he moved them to the edge of the dance floor by the backdoors of the bar and Elena suddenly realized that she might have just said something very dangerous.

"Do you trust me, Elena?" Damon asked as he dipped his head closer to hers. Elena stared into his eyes and against her better judgment (and the memory of her mother explaining to her that boys like Damon were the kind of boys that led you to one place and one place only…the confessional), Elena opened her mouth and finally said something that was actually true.

"Yes." She whispered.

Damon looked over Elena's shoulder and saw that his brother was still sitting with his back turned talking to the blonde that he was fairly certain was distracting Stefan on purpose. After he made sure that his baby brother couldn't see them, he slowly slid his hand down the side of Elena's dress and slipped his fingers under the tight black fabric that separated him from what he had wanted to drop to his knees and devour since the moment he saw her that night.

"Damon." Elena said softly and he guessed that she meant it as a warning and possibly as the first word of her attempt to get him to stop, but deep down he knew she didn't want him to stop. Elena just wanted to remind herself later that she had at least attempted to stop this so that she felt better about herself in case guilt began to creep in. Too bad her nails were digging into the back of his neck and her knee was rubbing against his thigh in a manner that didn't exactly scream _get the hell away from me._

"Just relax." Damon said softly as he let his fingers slide up her thigh and gently run over her soaked silk panties. His mouth immediately watered, had he not been in a public place he would have bent her over the nearest table and either sucked her dry or fucked her senseless. Now that he thought about it though, he really wanted to do both.

"Damon, we can't do this here." Elena moaned as her fingers sank deeper into his neck. Damon groaned and slid his fingers under the wet silk as he tightened his other arm around Elena's waist. With what he had planned, he figured he might need to hold her up.

"Just relax, no one can see. Look at me, Elena." Damon whispered and slowly Elena raised her eyes and locked them on his. He rubbed his finger over her slick clit and watched as her lips parted.

"We…can't." Elena mumbled as her hips pressed against his hand. Damon smiled and ran his tongue over his bottom lip. One of his favorite things about women was their mouth loved to say no, but no matter what, their body usually always said what they really wanted.

"Tell me to stop." Damon said as he slid his finger over her clit again, but Elena didn't tell him to stop. She raked her fingernails up the back of his neck and fisted his hair between her fingers.

"Oh God." Elena moaned as Damon pushed his finger inside of her and slid his thumb over her clit.

"Still want me to stop?" Damon asked. He wasn't trying to be an ass, but there was a tremendous satisfaction in hearing Elena beg and if he was never going to get to touch her again, he was going to take full advantage of what he got in that moment.

"No, God." Elena moaned as she let out a breath and closed her eyes. Damon felt his dick become painfully hard under his jeans and started to wonder exactly what the fine was for openly fucking in public.

"Look at me, Elena." Damon commanded and watched as Elena opened her eyes and looked at him as she licked her dry lips. Her eyes were dark, filled with lust and if he would have gotten away with it he would have licked her lips for her. He wanted to eat that woman alive, but unfortunately he knew there was definitely a fine for that.

"Damon, please." She begged as she slid her hands down his neck and balled her fists in his shirt. Her body trembled under his hands and he felt her become even slicker as he started to massage her clit.

"Can you promise me that you aren't going to scream at the top of your lungs if I move my hand, Elena? Hold onto my shirt, try to use your inside voice and remember that I expect a full chapter in your memoir for this." He said with a sarcastic smile as he looked at Elena. Elena smiled and groaned at the same time, but nodded her head in agreement.

"Alright, good girl." He said softly and found it rather funny that he felt her get even wetter when he said the last two words. He loved how kinky she was under all that good girl armor.

Damon looked over Elena's shoulder one more time and noticed that blondie was still keeping his brooding brother entertained, but he knew that if he kept Elena out there too much longer he was definitely in trouble. Slowly, he pulled Elena closer to him and then dipped mouth just above hers, but did not kiss her. He let his lips hover just over hers so that he could feel the heat coming from her mouth. He locked his eyes on her chocolate brown pools and twisted his hand slightly so that he could curve his finger inside of her to find the spot he had been craving to get his hand (and other body parts) on ever since he saw her. Elena breathed harder against him, but did not make a sound. He pressed his finger harder against her and began to rub circles over her and then watched as she fell apart in his arms.

"Oh…" Elena panted in a quiet high pitched gasp against Damon's mouth as she pulled harder on his shirt.

"Come on baby, if you don't cum I will get down on my knees and suck it out of you." He whispered crassly against her mouth and just as he suspected, that was all it took.

Damon heard a rip as Elena's fingernails tore small holes through his shirt and watched as Elena came hard against his body. She never took her eyes off of him and she never screamed. She simply held onto him for dear life and moaned against his mouth in a quiet surrender that was by far the hottest thing he had ever witnessed.

"Fuck." Elena whispered as her body shook in Damon's arms. Damon smiled as he watched her and mentally committed the picture of her satisfied face to his memory.

"I'll be waiting." He whispered softly against her mouth and then slowly slipped his hand away from her body and put a distance between them that he hated with a passion.

Elena stood on the dance floor in shock for a minute and tried to collect herself as she watched Damon slowly walk away and join the table where his brother sat. She let out a sigh and could not make herself believe that she had just done what she had only a few feet from her boyfriend. She searched her mind for a voice of reason, but unfortunately that voice was too exhausted from her earth shattering orgasm to give any words of wisdom. So, instead of relying on her inner monologue to help her, she simply pulled down her dress slightly and put a smile on her face. She pretended that nothing had happened and prayed that Stefan wouldn't catch a whiff of her sin as soon as she got close enough to him. Everything was going to be fine, she could do this.

"Hey, so you ready to head out?" Stefan asked as soon as Elena returned to the table. Elena did a mental happy dance as she thought of returning to her apartment and escaping any further bad decisions she was destined to make if Damon was in the same room with her.

"Yeah, sure. Let me get my purse and then maybe you can walk me to my car." Elena said with a smile as she avoided the blue eyes that were watching her every nervous move.

"Sounds good. I was thinking that maybe you would want to come over tonight and see the new place. You could crash there and maybe help me unpack tomorrow." He said with a smile. Her voice of reason woke up and started screaming to turn and run, fake sick, DO ANYTHING ELSE!

"Umm…sure." She said as she felt her stomach begin to knot. Her voice of reason threw up her hands and said a few choice curse words.

"Alright, let me go get my coat and I'll ride with you so you can find the place." Stefan said with a smile. Elena nodded and did her best to keep her eyes on the floor as Stefan walked away. She heard someone clear their throat and instinctively looked up. Damon pushed in his chair and didn't look at her, but smiled as he ran his tongue over the tip of his thumb.

"See you at home, Elena." He said as he finally raised his eyes to hers and as Elena felt a chill move through her, she watched as Damon walked behind her and then disappeared out the door. She turned her head toward Caroline and watched as the blonde smiled and shook her head.

"You are in so much trouble, Elena." She said with a smile and Elena let out a sigh as she realized how incredibly right Caroline really was.

**Alright, so I added another lemon and I really didn't even mean to lol. It just kind of snuck up on me and then I just kind of had to go with it. What did everyone think? There is going to be a major push and pull in this so don't think that this means happily ever after just yet. Much more to come and maybe Elena will start to play some mind games herself…wouldn't want Damon to have all the fun. Let me know what you think of the story, of Damon, the smut and all the rest. If you have ideas let me know and definitely any feedback you have I would love. I really appreciate all of you reading and reviewing and I hope that you are liking where this is going. Hopefully can get one to two chapters done tomorrow as well as I have quickly become a slave to this fic. Damn Damon Salvatore and his addictive ways Have a great night everything and please review!**


	8. Chapter Seven: Sinful Revelations

_**Chapter Seven: Sinful Revelations**_

"_We fear what we most desire."_

― _Harley King, What I Was Meant To Forget_

Damon sat in the driver's seat of his midnight blue Camaro and tapped his fingers softly against his leather wrapped steering wheel as he took in his first true breath of the day. The night before had been both a rush of satisfaction as he had watched Elena turn to putty in his hands on the Grill's small dance floor and then eventually a grave disappointment as he watched her just a few hours later, climb the staircase of his home as she followed his brother to his bedroom. Considering his circumstances, Damon had tried not to overanalyze he and Elena's few moments alone too deeply because frankly, he knew there wasn't anything very deep about what had happened between them. For the past three months (one year and three months if he was being completely honest) Damon had merely been a fantasy in Elena's mind and she in his. He had called her every night after she had snuck away from her inattentive boyfriend and given her the passionate release that her body so desperately craved. He would have loved to think that the look on her face the night before had meant something significant or even at least hinted at the fact that she might want more from him than the occasional orgasm, but Damon knew better than that. The intense stare that had come from Elena's chocolate brown eyes that had nearly swallowed him whole, was merely a look of lust, and her submission to him as they had danced was in no way her agreement to end her relationship with his brother. No, Elena's quivering body and iron clad grip on him was simply due to the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her veins due to the excitement of their lustful interaction. Damon could hardly blame her for falling apart in his arms the way she had, if he remembered life correctly at the age of twenty-two, having an orgasm in the middle of a crowded room was pretty fucking exciting. Hell, having an orgasm in the middle of a crowded room at any age was pretty fucking exciting if you asked him.

In all honesty, Damon knew that his feelings for Elena were not nearly as noble as he would have liked to think they were. Even though jealousy coursed through his veins at lightning speed whenever he imagined even for a second that his brother might have his filthy hands on the body that Damon wanted more than he wanted air, it wasn't as if he had been planning he and Elena's wedding for the past few months. No, Damon had been spending the past few months imagining Elena's nails in his back and mouth around his very favorite body parts as he came violently to her addictively seductive voice. He highly doubted that the images that had been flashing through his mind recently would be anything near what one would find in a Harlequin romance novel or even Penthouse Forum for that matter.

Damon had never been what girls would call "boyfriend material" and that was simply fact. He was constantly wrapped up in his work, he didn't like having to report to someone on where he was or what he was doing and he had even been told by a girlfriend before that if he looked up the words emotionally unavailable in the dictionary, then he would find a picture of himself. He remembered that girlfriend being a bitch and being very short lived, but he also remembered her having a fetish for being chained up and having no gag reflex, so he figured it all evened out in the end.

Now, with all of that being said Damon knew that deep down he was not as casual of a lover as he liked to pretend. His relationships with women, while short, had always been incredibly intense and bordering on completely obsessive. When he was with a woman, he breathed them. He might not call them every second of the day, or tell them that he loved them as he brushed their hair in a bath he had run himself, but he never had sex with more than one woman at a time (instead of in college, but he highly doubted that counted) and never slept until he heard the woman's earth shattering screams fill his entire house. Some people might say that Damon used sex to feed his addiction to be needed or loved. Others might say that in fact his addiction was sex itself and that he wasn't nearly as deep as he would to have liked to think. Unfortunately, all of those people saying such things lived in his body and seemed to have the same argument after every single one of his flings had ended in an explosive fire in which he had lost half of his stuff and nearly all of his sanity.

By the time Damon realized that he had spent nearly thirty minutes sitting in his car psychoanalyzing himself and the hurricane of relationships he had endured, the sun was beginning to set on Mystic Falls once again. His original plan for the day (since it was a Saturday and one of his only days off) had been to sleep as much as he possibly could and then try to figure out some way to convince Elena that if she just let him in her panties one more time, she would gladly forget who the hell Stefan was, and never leave the confines of his bedroom ever again. The reality of his day had been much different however, as his pager had went off at four in the morning letting him know that one of his patients had been admitted to the hospital. He had called Melanie back to figure out exactly why he was being notified in the middle of the night that Rose had (once again) been admitted, when usually he just conferred with the attending doctor during normal business hours, but had not been surprised when he heard his nurses answer. Rose was being difficult…what a fucking shocker.

Rose had been Damon's patient for nearly four years and ever since he had reluctantly taken her on, he had regretted it with a passion. Rose was unstable, dramatic, and desperate for attention and therefore gave Damon a run for his money whenever her file crossed his desk. But, dedication to his job and a deep seeded guilt that he couldn't even process led him back to Rose and her ever urgent crisis every time. So, on Saturday morning, instead of chasing after his brother's girlfriend or getting the much needed sleep that he so desperately craved, he made his way to St. Mary's hospital, and spent the rest of the day trying to convince Rose to take her medication and pull her back from the ledge that she always seemed to have one foot dangling over.

And all of that led Damon right to where he sat at seven o'clock that evening. Leaning against the cool leather of his driver's side seat and staring at the black Range Rover that had been parked in his driveway since the night before. He scanned the area around him for the red shiny Porsche that Damon's dad had given Stefan for graduation (since shacking up with his whore of a mother wasn't gift enough) and noticed that it was gone. Damon let out a sigh and slowly reached for his door. There was no way in hell he was sitting in his car all night dissecting his past and present failures just to avoid the inevitable mistake he knew he was going to make if he was left alone with Elena. Damon didn't necessarily want to rack up anymore mistakes than he had to, but as far as mistakes were concerned, he figured one made with Elena would probably be just satisfying enough to make it worth it.

Elena was sitting in silence on the large overstuffed leather couch in what Stefan had called the parlor, when she heard the front door of the Boarding House open and then close quietly before footsteps began to echo down the hall. Her heart jumped into her throat at the realization of who was possibly coming in the door since Stefan had left only an hour before to meet with his sociology group. She quickly straightened herself up on the couch and situated the book in her lap as she tried to make it appear as if she had been studying like she was supposed to be.

"Well doesn't someone know how to overstay their welcome." Damon said sarcastically as he rounded the corner of the entryway and stepped into the expansive parlor. Elena rolled her eyes and quickly looked back down at her worn copy of Hamlet that lay open in her lap.

"I was asked to stay here. Stefan had to meet with his sociology group to prepare for their mid-term and since he is only going to be gone a few hours, he asked me to stay here and wait for him." She said quickly as she flipped a page in her book for the first time since Stefan left. Damon nodded with a smile and then slowly made his way to the other side of the room to the small oak topped bar and poured himself a drink. He tilted his head to the side as he caught a quick glance of Elena looking at him from under her thick dark lashes and then smiled as he watched her quickly turn away.

"Do you always do what my brother asks you to?" Damon asked as he lifted his half full crystal tumbler of bourbon from the bar and began to make his way back across the room.

"I am not doing what he told me to, Damon. I needed some place to study and since Caroline and Tyler are using my apartment as a hotel room, Stefan suggested that I study here where it is quiet and it sounded like a good idea." She said in a clipped tone as she narrowed her eyes at the man moving toward her. She didn't know if it was the fact that she had been waiting to see Damon all day and therefore she was slightly on edge or if it was the way that he looked at her as if he were going to devour her, but something that hung in the air between them had her desperately playing the defensive as if her life depended on it.

"Alright, calm down there buffy, I was just asking. So, how is all of that studying going anyway?" Damon asked as he motioned toward the book in her lap and then sat down on the opposite end of the couch. He took a drink of his bourbon and then stretched his legs out onto the mahogany coffee table across from him as he let out a breath. Elena sighed and leaned back against the arm of the soft couch and felt her body relax slightly at the change of conversation.

"To be honest, it's going incredibly shitty. I have to write a detailed essay on the impact of Ophelia's character in Hamlet for my Romantic Literature class. After that, I have to compose an original short story or poem for my Advanced Creative Writing class and both just happen to be due on Wednesday afternoon. And, those are just the essays…I won't even get into the exams." She said as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in order to possibly rid herself from the migraine that just discussing her mid-term requirements gave her. Damon leaned his head back against the couch and smiled as he stared up at the ceiling and dropped his hands into his lap.

"You know, when I was in medical school, I used to wait until the day before the exam to even open my book. I would stay up for twenty-four hours cramming and then walk into class and nearly have a nervous breakdown as I took the test. I was generally relaxed through most of college, but when it came to mid-terms and finals…well those were the weeks that needless to say I didn't have many friends." He said as he winked and took a long drink from his glass. Elena smiled as she turned her head toward him and studied the exhausted expression on his face. His onyx hair fell in messy pieces against his forehead and his cobalt blue eyes were soft and looked as if they desperately wanted to close.

"How in the world did you make it out of college and medical school if you only studied a few weeks out of like twelve years?" Elena asked as she let her bare legs stretch out slightly longer on the couch. Damon smiled and without a blink pulled her feet onto his lap and let out a sigh as he rested his hands on the tops of her feet.

"Well, the last three years or so I was doing my residency, so I didn't so much have to take a lot of tests as I just had to apply all the shit I learned cramming for them. But, the first eight years…well I guess I just got good at remembering things in a short period of time and retaining them." He said as he shrugged his shoulders and ran his fingertips over the bones of Elena's ankles. Elena shivered and swallowed roughly as her skin broke out in goose bumps. She quickly dropped her eyes and tried to pretend that Damon wasn't touching her and that she was simply having a nice normal conversation with her boyfriend's older brother and everything was completely fine.

"Is there anything that you aren't good at?" She asked quietly as she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and crossed one of her legs over the other protectively. Damon licked his lips and lowered his eyes until he locked them on Elena's.

"I highly doubt it." He said in a dangerously low tone. Elena felt her mouth go dry as she felt her body become rigid and much warmer than it had been a few moments before.

"You are seriously the cockiest man I have ever met in my entire life." She said as she swallowed and faked a sarcastic smile. Damon laughed softly as he ran his thumbs up the soft flesh of Elena's calves.

"You have never complained about my many talents before, Elena. You seemed to be very pleased with the fact that I was good at most things when you were breathing into the other end of the phone line." He said still with an edge in his voice as his thumbs continued their path up Elena's legs. Elena felt her skin heat and an ache settle deep inside her core as the combination between Damon's touch and dangerous words settled over her.

"I haven't exactly been thinking the clearest in the past few months, but I think I've got it together now." She said with a shake in her voice as she tried to keep herself composed as she felt her skin tingle as Damon's fingers reached her knees.

"So you are thinking clearly now?" He asked with sarcasm as a devilish grin spread across his lips. Elena raised her eyes and faked a confident smile.

"Completely clear." She said with strained enthusiasm. Damon pressed his lips together in a thin line and nodded slowly. He circled his thumbs around Elena's knees and watched her legs begin to shake harder with his every move.

"How wet are you right now, Elena?" Damon asked in a hushed, but husky voice without lifting his eyes.

"Don't be an ass Damon." Elena said as she clenched her thighs tighter together, which unfortunately caused a pressure in her core that nearly sent her into convulsions in her weakened state. She swallowed thickly and straightened herself up against the arm of the couch and pretended she was strong.

"I'm not being an ass, I'm asking a question. I can feel your legs shaking as I touch you and when you tightened your thighs together in an attempt to protect yourself from me I can only assume, I heard you groan in the back of your throat. So, I will ask you again, how wet are you, Elena?" Damon asked in his strongest and most in control voice possible. Elena rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. She didn't know who the hell Damon Salvatore thought he was, but there was no way in hell she was just going to drop her panties at his request just because he touched her legs and spoke in the voice that usually sent her into an epileptic seizure. No, she was strong and he was not winning this one no matter how good he looked and how much she wanted to get her mouth on him.

"I realize that you believe that you are the sex God of Mystic Falls, but I have news for you Dr. Salvatore. You aren't the gift to women that you think you are. Just because you rub my legs and lower your voice does not mean that you are going to cause me to soak through my underwear and drop to my knees in front of you. Yes, you are good looking and yes you are charming, but you are an overly confident dick and that is not exactly a turn on." She said sternly as she mentally high fived herself for being strong when she really wanted to lick the fingers that were continuing to trace circles of fire over her knees. Damon smirked and nodded before he finally tilted his head to the side and made eye contact with Elena.

"Wow, so much anger in such a small hot little package. You must be dripping." He said as his fingers crept slightly higher, moving just over her knee. Elena felt rage rush through her as she felt her body tense in reaction to the feel of Damon's fingers on her skin as well as his crass words in her ears. She didn't know who the hell he thought he was, but there was no way in hell he was going to talk to her like she was a prostitute and get away with it. Elena's mind was moving a mile a minute with anger and before she knew it she reached out her hand and slapped Damon as hard as she could across the face.

"You dick!" She screamed as her fingers lingered on the warm skin of Damon's now slightly red jaw. Damon jerked his head back as she started to pull away and looked at her with the same shock that she was sure was written all over her own face. Elena hadn't planned on hitting him and she was sure it was an overreaction, but she couldn't help it. He had no right to talk to her that way…at least not face to face when they weren't connected by cell phones.

"You have no right to talk to me like that. I have a boyfriend who is your brother! What is wrong with you?" She screamed as anger at both herself and Damon coursed through her body. Damon stared at her for a moment as he tightened his jaw and Elena watched as anger washed over him as well.

"What is wrong with me, Elena? What is wrong with me is that for the past three months you have been moaning in my ear and begging me to tell you what I want to do to you so that you can fuck your own brains out every night before you pass out. What is wrong with me is that you stayed in my house once my brother left because you were waiting to see me, but the second that I actually gave you the slightest hint that maybe I was waiting to see you too and that was exactly why I didn't turn my car around the moment that I saw you were actually still here, you freaked the fuck out! All of a sudden you are acting like a psychopathic Sunday school teacher that is offended by my filthy mouth and can't handle my forwardness that for the past three months excited the hell out of you. Well I got news for you, Elena. I am not just a voice on the phone anymore. I am a man and I am sitting right in front of you and you can't just hang up on me when you're finished!" Damon yelled as he pushed Elena's legs off of him and sat up straighter on the couch. Elena balled her fists in her lap as Damon's anger seemed to radiate off of him and penetrate her skin making her even more pissed off than she had been before.

"So you think that I used you to get off? Is that what you honestly think of me?" Elena yelled as she pulled further back to her side of the couch and felt her skin flush as her emotions flooded her senses.

"Of course that's what I honestly think, Elena. I mean for Christ's sake, you called me every single day after the first time that I got under your skin and for the past three months you have been spending your time lying to your boyfriend with your hands between your legs as I verbally fuck the shit out of you. Let's not turn this into something that it isn't. You needed to get off. I was there to get you off and you never had to worry about actually facing me. The problem is that now you do have to face me and now that you do, you are realizing some very upsetting things about yourself." He said with a sharp tone as he widened his icy blue eyes and cocked his head to the side. Elena had no idea where this Damon was coming from, but she really didn't like him.

"And what upsetting things am I realizing about myself, _doctor?_" Elena asked in a sarcastic tone. Damon leaned forward so that he was only a few inches from Elena's face and even though anger flooded her body, Elena felt a spark of electricity move over her skin. Her breathing picked up from the combination of her rampant emotions and the fact that even though Damon was pissing her off royally, he was also now close enough to her that she could feel his breath on her skin and that she feared was a dangerous combination.

"You are starting to realize that you aren't the good little Elena Gilbert that only wants to have sex with someone when it is making love and that you aren't nearly as attached to your image of prince charming as you thought you were. You are starting to realize that there is no amount of gentle caress' or butterfly fucking kisses that gets you near as wet as it does when you think about what it would be like for me to fuck you so hard that you can't walk right the next day!" Damon said in a tight, but hushed tone as his eyes stared daggers into Elena's. Elena felt her blood rush as his words hit her like a ton of bricks and she once again raised her hand in hopes that this time when she hit him, she would knock his self-righteous ass out so that she could get out of this nightmare, but unfortunately that fantasy was definitely not her reality. As Elena swung her hand to once again connect with Damon's face, she was quickly stopped by the harsh force of Damon's hand as he caught her wrist and pulled her body from where she had been sitting, nearly onto his lap. She still had both of her knees on the leather couch, but she was dangerously close to what appeared to be a very angry (but incredibly hot) doctor that looked about ten steps from complete insanity.

"I don't care if you're a shrink or not, Damon. I am not a slut and even you aren't going to convince me of that." She said between clenched teeth as she stared down at Damon's tightly pressed full lips as she breathed hard against him.

"I never said you were a slut, Elena." He said with anger still dripping from his lips. Elena looked up and met the icy blue eyes in front of her once again. She saw the tightness of Damon's jaw, the tensed muscles of his neck and the quick movement of his chest rising and falling with his fast angry breaths. She felt the tight grip he had on her wrist, the press of his forearm against hers as he blocked her from his body and the subtle push of his knee just between her thighs. She licked her lips as she tried to catch her breath and summon the reasonable side of her brain, but that part of her brain was unfortunately not responding. Elena felt her body start to shake as the ache in her core got more painful and sweat broke out over her skin.

"You're an ass, Damon." She said breathlessly as she stared at him. Damon did not let his shield falter, but she saw a slight change in the way he looked at her.

"So, I've been told." He said as he kept his eyes locked on Elena and ran his tongue slowly over his bottom lip. And, that was all it took. Elena had fought a good fight, but now the fight was over.

Elena's mouth crashed against Damon's in a powerful rush that sent adrenaline pulsing through her system as she climbed onto his lap and pushed him back against the couch. She heard a low moan from deep in his throat as she felt his arms wrap around her and pull her closer to his body. She ran her tongue over his lips and thrust her tongue into his mouth as she tried to extinguish the fire that had been burning inside of her for longer than she cared to remember.

"Fuck, Elena." Damon groaned as he pulled his mouth from hers and ran his tongue down over her chin and then bit gently into the soft center of her throat.

"Mmmm…" Elena moaned as she tangled her fingers in Damon's thick hair and pulled his head back and she attacked his mouth once again.

The fire that coursed through Elena's body as she moved against Damon was something that she had never felt before, especially while she still had her clothes on. Her body was hot, her skin so sensitive that his every touch seemed to shoot right through her and slam into her core in a delicious collision that sent her mind spinning. She drug her tongue over his lips, his tongue, and the jagged angle of his jaw down to the tight muscles of his throat. She dug her nails into the back of his neck as she fisted his thick hair between her fingers and moaned in protest as she felt Damon pull slightly away and cool air rush between their bodies.

"You should know better than to think you get to call all the shots, Ms. Gilbert." Damon said as he tangled his fingers in Elena's long chocolate brown hair and tried to catch his breath. Elena licked her lips and closed her eyes as Damon slowly jerked her head to the side.

"Ahh…" Elena moaned breathlessly as she felt a dull pain move up her neck as Damon tightened his grip on her hair and moved his hand.

"You know I said I wasn't going to touch you until you begged me." Damon said as he stopped his lips just over the sensitive skin of Elena's ear.

"Looks like you are a liar, Dr. Salvatore." Elena said sarcastically as she awaited the feel of Damon's mouth on her skin again, but Damon sat perfectly still and simply breathed against her aching flesh.

"I am a lot of things, Elena. But, I am not a liar." He said in a stern tone. Elena turned her head and stared at Damon as she watched the man that had tormented her over the phone come to life beneath her. She saw the dark lust pouring from his eyes, felt his determined control as he held her hair tightly in his hands and felt the delicious pressure of his erection against her core as he held her tight to him. She swallowed hard in her throat as she felt her lips begin to tremble.

"Please, Damon." She whispered softly. Damon's breath picked up slightly as he let his lips graze the skin of her ear softly as he listened to her plea. Elena hated to admit it, but it almost excited her more to hear Damon breathing harder against her in reaction to something she had said than even the soft feel of his lips on her overly sensitive skin.

"Please, what?" He asked as his bottom lip moved painfully slow over her earlobe. Elena shuttered and twisted her fingers tighter in Damon's hair.

"Don't stop." She whispered and she prayed that would be enough, and thankfully it was.

The next few moments could have lasted minutes or they could have gone on for hours. The second that Elena had whispered the last two words of her request; Damon had done exactly as she had asked. He slammed his mouth against hers and slid his tongue over the contours of her mouth as if he were memorizing them. He raked his hands over her body slowly, but touched her with such force that Elena felt her skin bruise under his hands. She knew deep down she needed to tell him to ease up, but her body wouldn't let her ask such a silly thing. The pain of being touched by Damon was far too pleasurable for her too ever ask him to stop. He could have cut her skin with his nails as he moved over her and as long as he licked the wounds when he was finished, she would have gladly accepted the torture.

"I want to taste every inch of you, Elena." Damon moaned as his lips slipped from her mouth down her jaw and to the length of her slender neck. He ran his tongue over the tensed tendons and muscles that her soft skin covered and then bit down on her shoulder as he slid the strap of her tank top down her arm.

"Damon." Elena moaned as Damon ran his tongue over the teeth marks on her skin and then began to suck gently at the curve of her neck.

"Tell me what you want, Elena." Damon demanded breathlessly as he finally lifted his head and ran his fingertips over Elena's still covered breasts. Elena moaned and closed her eyes as she pushed her hips harder against the hard bulge in Damon's pants.

"You know what I want." She whispered as she opened her eyes and pushed him back against the couch once again. She ran her hands up his deep navy blue button up dress shirt and then ripped the top of it open as buttons fell without a sound onto the couch. She dipped her head down and let her tongue slide over the defined muscles of Damon's chest as she let her hand drift down his stomach.

"Mmm….tempting…but not good enough sweetheart." Damon said in dark amusement as he slid his hand up the center of Elena's chest and over her chin. He moved his finger over her full bottom lip and as she opened her mouth to him, he hooked his thumb over her bottom teeth and pulled her slowly toward him. Elena's body surged at the forceful gesture and her heart pounded painfully fast in her chest.

"Tell me what you want." He whispered sternly. Elena felt her core throb as she became painfully wet and tried to close her thighs to at least give herself some slight relief, but due to her position on Damon's lap that wasn't happening much to her dismay.

"No getting yourself off this time, honey. If you want to come, you gotta ask for it like a good girl. Now tell me what you want." Damon commanded as he pulled Elena forward by the jaw once more. Excitement jumped through Elena's body and she was seriously beginning to wonder what the hell was wrong with her that this type of foreplay was turning her on more than the actual act of sex itself.

"I want to go upstairs." She whispered over Damon's thumb before he slowly slipped his hand away. Damon slid his hands over Elena's hips and pulled her harder against him. Elena groaned as need flooded her senses and flushed out any sense of reason that might have still have existed in her brain.

"Why?" Damon asked as he slid his fingers under the elastic waistband of Elena's sleep shorts and rubbed his fingers over the hot naked flesh of her hips.

"You know why, Damon." Elena whined as she pressed herself harder against him. Damon shrugged his shoulders and made an innocent face.

"Humor me." He said as he leaned his head back on the couch. Elena moaned as she watched the muscles in Damon's neck and chest flex as he moved. She didn't know what was happening to her, but suddenly she was so aware of every single move he made, breath he took and sound that escaped his lips. His every action excited her and his every command controlled her.

"I want you to touch me, Damon." She moaned as she leaned down and placed her mouth against his collarbone. She opened her mouth and licked a wet line from the base of his throat up over his Adam's apple to the harsh line of his jaw. She let her teeth graze his unshaven skin and bit down gently.

"Please Damon. I am begging you to take me upstairs. I need you." She whispered as she pulled back slightly and hovered just over his lips. Damon stared at her as he leaned slightly forward and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. He bit down gently and then pulled back as he wrapped his arms around her body.

Slowly, Damon began to stand up from the couch with Elena tangled around his body as if she were a second skin. Every inch of her flesh was pressed against his and her mouth practically fed from his lips as she massaged her tongue against his with her hands still tightly wound in his hair. Elena's mind was swimming as need and desire coursed through her veins and consumed her every move. She couldn't pin down a coherent thought in her chaotic mind as Damon moved them across the room, but the rush of her thoughts came to an immediate halt as she heard the front door begin to open and reality crash down around her.

"Holy shit!" Elena said as she flew back from Damon's lips. Damon stared at her for a moment and Elena wasn't sure if he hadn't heard the door open or if he simply didn't care at that point, because for what felt like an eternity, he didn't move at all.

"Damon put me down." She said softly as she tried to put some space between their bodies. Damon gritted his teeth and untangled his arms from her body as he dropped her onto her feet slightly rougher than she had anticipated. Elena backed up and quickly straightened out her tank top and pulled down her sleep shorts until she was fairly certain that she at least looked semi presentable. Damon didn't say a word, but simply moved back over to the couch and sat down as if he had nothing to hide and not a care in the world. Elena raked her fingers through her hair and tried to pull herself together and out of the daze that she had been consumed by for the past hour. Damon crossed one of his legs over the other and raised his previously abandoned tumbler of bourbon to his lips as he watched Elena try to sort herself back into the perfectly packaged girlfriend that Stefan so adored.

"Hello brother." Damon said deeply just as Stefan rounded the corner into the parlor. Elena smiled nervously as she shifted her weight from side to side as Stefan dropped his bag onto a large leather chair and began to make his way toward her.

"Hey sweetie, how was studying?" Stefan asked as he ignored his brother's greeting. Elena smiled as she felt her skin flush.

"It was fine, how was your sociology group?" She asked ignoring the pair of icy blue eyes that were staring at her from across the room.

"It was good. We got a lot of material covered, so hopefully I won't fail miserably on Tuesday." Stefan said with a smile as he wrapped his arms around Elena and gave her a tight hug. Elena flinched as she tried to keep some distance between her and Stefan's bodies and turned her head quickly toward Damon as she heard a slight crack of glass as he gripped his tumbler in his hand.

"Oh, I'm sure you won't fail Stefan. Doesn't Dad know all your professors?" Damon asked sarcastically as she pushed himself up from the couch to stand. Stefan pulled away from Elena and slowly turned toward his brother.

"You're one to talk, Damon. Isn't Dad how you got into medical school? Not to mention you are living in his house after all." Stefan said bitterly as his body tensed. Damon stared at his brother as he slammed his now empty glass down on the end table beside the couch and nearly shattered it.

"First of all, I got myself into medical school because I worked my fucking ass off. Second of all, this house is mine Stefan. I paid cash for it after I graduated. I don't believe in free rides unlike you, guess you got that from your mother." He spat as he narrowed his eyes and then turned toward the entryway from which Stefan had just came. Elena stepped back and was surprised at the sudden hostility between the brothers after only being in the same room for barely two minutes. Were they always like this?

"I wouldn't bring up mother's if I were you, Damon. At least, my mom wasn't so bat shit crazy that she drove her husband into someone else's arms." He said as he stepped closer to Damon. Damon smiled smugly as he began walking closer to the stairs. Elena stood frozen in silence as she watched the scene unfold in front of her, and tried to decipher which of the two was being the bigger asshole. So far, she had decided it was a tie.

"Now brother, let's not do this in front of your girlfriend. I wouldn't want her to realize what a bastard you truly are, no pun intended." He said with a sarcastic smile as he walked through the entryway and began to make his way toward the long staircase.

"Good night Elena, good luck on those exams." Damon's voice called from the distance and then after a few moments, he was gone.

"Sorry about that, we don't exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things." Stefan said softly as he turned back toward Elena once he was sure Damon was gone. Elena nodded as she reluctantly raised her eyes.

"I see that." She said softly. Stefan moved closer to her and put his arms around her rigid frame.

"Well, I'm exhausted. Are you ready for bed?" He asked as he kissed the top of her head. Elena felt her stomach turn, as a mixture of guilt and another unknown emotion moved through her.

"Umm…actually Stefan, I think I'd better head home tonight. I have a ton to do to get ready for this week, and I think I just need to get some sleep and focus." She said as she pulled back slightly from him. Stefan stared at her for a moment in confusion and then slowly smiled as he dropped his arms.

"Alright, well let's get your things then and I'll walk you to your car. We can have some alone time after all the exams are over." He said as he moved toward the coffee table to start collecting the many scattered books and papers that lay there. Elena nodded as she stared at the staircase that she desperately wanted to run to.

"Definitely." She whispered and suddenly she realized that what Damon had said earlier in the night had been completely true, whether she wanted to admit it or not. She was bored with her imaginary fantasy of who prince charming really was, and the soft and gentle affection that she had been getting from Stefan for the past year had never satisfied her no matter how hard she had tried. Elena craved danger, excitement, and earth shattering pleasure that would consume her in ways that she could never imagine. She needed something real, raw, painful and passionate. She needed the man that now paced the floors above her and that fact alone, scared her to death

**Alright, so I am back. I apologize for my delay but I had to fight with the muse on this one. I had this chapter going in a million directions and finally got it nailed down to this. At first I was going to make this more romantic, but I didn't think that Damon and Elena were ready for that. They have some boundaries to break, fights to be had and fantasies to fulfill before they can get to the core of their feelings and realize that there is more between them than just the physical. How do we like the insight into Damon's brain in the beginning? Good? Bad? Iffy? I know that the Damon and Stefan fight sprang up fast, but if you read the last chapter, I hope by now you are realizing that there is something very dark and bitter between the brother's. We will explore that more as we go along, as well as both their mothers, exactly who Rose is and what role she play's and maybe Damon and Elena will actually have sex before Chapter 20**** Just kidding. Things are never easy with Delena and I didn't want this fic to be any different. Please please let me know what you think and I really hoped you liked this chapter. I appreciate all of your feedback so incredibly much and thank you for reading my work. Please click the button below and review, thank you everyone!**


	9. Chapter Eight: A Hardcore Discussion

_**Chapter Eight: A Hardcore Discussion**_

"_He made me feel unhinged . . . like he could take me apart and put me back together again and again."_

― _Chelsie Shakespeare_

Elena lay under the warm flannel sheets of Stefan's queen sized bed and tried to block out the unsettling screams that had been assaulting her eardrums for the past thirty minutes. She could not believe that Stefan had actually been able to sleep through the ear piercing sounds of passion that had been resonating from the room down the hall ever since Elena had finally found her way to bed, but she imagined that maybe the sounds only seemed so loud to her because she desperately didn't want to hear them in the first place. It was completely unnatural for a woman to make the kind of noises that seemed to echo throughout the entire house and with every moan of pleasure that penetrated the obviously thin bedroom walls, Elena found herself losing a little bit more of the sanity that she thought she had gained over the last seven days.

The week before had seemed to drag on for an eternity as Elena had tried to balance her mid-term exams as well as her mentally ill mind that seemed to have become consumed with Damon in a way that she was certain was completely unhealthy. Nearly once a day Elena had picked up her phone and contemplated calling the devastatingly handsome doctor even though she really had nothing of importance to say to him. Simply being able to hear the sound of Damon's voice on the other end of the line seemed as if it would have been enough to calm her fragile nerves and soothe her chaotic mind after everything that had transpired the weekend before.

Elena's obsessive mind and multiple faux phone calls, were only the tip of the iceberg when it had come to the complete mental breakdown that had nearly eaten her alive during a week when she truly had needed to focus on her school work and that alone. On more than one occasion, once the sun had gone down and she had found herself in bed unable to sleep, she had actually taken off in her Range Rover and navigated down the darkened back roads of Mystic Falls toward the house that she had sworn to herself the weekend before that she would do everything in her power to avoid. Elena never took her little trips on nights that Stefan would be home and her ending up in front of the boarding house never seemed to be completely her own decision either. It seemed as if something was pulling her in the direction of that house and that until she went inside and gave in to the force that had drug her there, she would never truly rest again. But, even though Elena made the trip to the boarding house night after night, she never had the courage to make the turn into the driveway and confront the force that had been driving her insane. Instead, Elena would simply pull up to the edge of the driveway and sit in her car clutching the steering wheel as she stared up the long driveway at the midnight blue Camaro parked in front and prayed for the courage she needed, but knew would never come.

If Elena was being honest she was completely terrified of actually giving in to Damon when deep down she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle the kind of affection that he would give to her. The thought of falling to pieces in his arms as he took her until she had nothing left to give and then watching him walk away as she scampered back to his brother's arms…well that was just something she refused to do. So instead of giving in to what she knew she shouldn't want, Elena escaped her confusion by throwing herself into her mid-term exams and allowed herself to reside in a beautiful world of denial where nothing was wrong and everyone was happy. Unfortunately, deep down Elena knew that something was definitely wrong and it wasn't just her sick and twisted relationship with Damon that fell into that category.

If Elena sat back and truly looked at the mess that she had gotten herself into with Damon, even she could see how completely wrong and totally fucked up it truly was. There she was, doing far more than flirting with her boyfriend's brother in the house that they shared and yet even though she knew that it was wrong, she seemed to keep running back for more at every chance she got. It was as if she was a child again and her mother had told her not to touch her curling iron because it was hot and would burn her skin. Instead of listening to her mother however, it was as if Elena still reached her hand out and touched the hot iron anyway just because now that she knew it was forbidden, it seemed all that more inviting. The only problem was that now, instead of touching the burning heat once and learning her lesson as it marked her skin, Elena was repeatedly scalding her body not only because it was forbidden, but because she actually enjoyed the pain that it caused her.

No matter how addictive, forbidden or even attractive Elena's desire for Damon had become, it was something that she had finally realized was truly wrong (no matter how good it felt) and had decided to end it. After days of debating over what was right and what was wrong and arguing with herself over the fact that she was only twenty-two years old and should be experiencing more than just the perks of monogamy, Elena had finally come to the conclusion that whatever had been between her and Damon now had to be over. It wasn't that Elena necessarily had a come to Jesus moment or some sort of spiritual epiphany, but her decision had honestly been based on the simple fact that for the first time in one year she had been unable to look her own boyfriend in the eye and had ran from his home the weekend before as if it had been on fire. She never wanted to feel as if she were some sort of common whore and she definitely never wanted to hurt the man that had been there for her the past year while she had tried to put her life back together. Stefan deserved better than that and despite the lust that raged inside of her every time that she was in the same room as Damon, she knew that wasn't justification for how she had recently behaved.

So after much soul searching and seven days of avoiding both brothers as if they had the plague, Elena had finally found her way back to the boarding house that night and spent hours in bed with Stefan catching up on the time they had spent apart. It was obvious from the way that Stefan spoke to her and held her hand gently that he truly loved her and wanted her to be a part of his life. Elena knew deep down that she cared deeply for Stefan as well, and that even though she wasn't certain that she loved him in the way that he loved her at that exact moment, the way she felt about him was definitely something that someday could turn into the emotions that she so desperately wanted to feel. Sex, desire, and lust were all fleeting emotions that all seemed to fade away as soon as they were consummated and deep down she was sure that was all that had ever been and would ever be between her and Damon. Love, on the other hand, which Stefan had voiced on more than one occasion, was exactly how he felt about her, well that was stable and had longevity. That was what Elena needed, that was what she knew she had to want deep inside even though she couldn't always pick it out amongst the chaos of emotions that moved through her on a moment to moment basis. Elena might have wanted what Damon had to offer her to the point that her bones seemed to ache in his very presence, but she knew that Stefan had what she truly needed. Stefan could give her the life that her mother had always wanted for her. Damon, on the other hand could give her the life that she had secretly fantasized about at night when everyone else was asleep…but she knew that she couldn't live in fantasy forever.

_"More more more! God, don't stop! Fuck! Harder! Fuck me!"_ A woman's voice screamed from down the hall and suddenly shook Elena from her internal reasoning that after the sounds she just heard seemed pretty insignificant. Elena gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the pang of jealousy that surged through her body in unison with the rush of need that seemed to settle in her core at the sound of the woman's desperate and satisfied voice. She closed her eyes and dug her fingernails into the blanket that lay over her body as she rolled onto her side.

"Jesus Christ, Stefan? Stefan, wake up." Elena whined as she tried to shake Stefan from his deep sleep so that he could go down the hall and tell his slut of a brother to quiet the hell down so that she could attempt to get some sleep and not go insane at the thought of another woman touching what was not so rightfully hers.

"Mmm…what is it honey?" Stefan mumbled as he rolled onto his side away from Elena and pulled the blankets around his body. Elena rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I need you to go down the hall and tell your brother to be quiet. I can't sleep. Please Stefan." She begged in hopes that he could go silence the sounds that were about to turn Elena into a psychopathic murderer if he didn't.

"OK, sleep good honey." Stefan mumbled as he reached behind him and patted Elena's hip before the soft sound of snoring filled the room once again. Elena let out a sigh and seriously thought about punching him to wake him up, but deep down she didn't need Stefan knowing that the sound of Damon having sex bothered her to the level that it did. That knowledge alone could bring on a whole line of questioning that she really didn't need.

"Oh God yes! Fuck me with your tongue! You are such a bad boy. God don't stop!" The woman's voice ordered seductively and before Elena realized it, she was on her feet. There was no way in hell that she was going to lay there all night and listen to Damon do God knows what to whatever whore he had picked up in a bar and just make him think that was ok. Sure, it was his house and sure she didn't live there, but Stefan did and there should be at least some common courtesy when it came to sharing a home with someone. That common courtesy should at least include the decency to not tongue fuck a woman when the woman that you made out with the weekend before is laying just down the hall!

Elena did not exactly have a plan of attack as she walked angrily down the hallway, but she knew that an attack would definitely be a part of what was about to happen once she reached Damon's door. She pulled her body up straight, smoothed out her tank top and sleep shorts and threw her hair up into a messy ponytail so that she looked as in control and together as possible. There was no way in hell that Damon Salvatore was getting away with disrupting her much needed sleep just so that he could get off, no, not happening. As soon as he opened that door, she was going to be the one giving orders for once, not him.

"Damon!" Elena yelled loudly as she pounded her small angry fists against the thick oak of Damon's bedroom door and waited for his disheveled (and hopefully embarrassed) reply. There was a silence and suddenly the heavy breathing and slutty moans came to a halt. Elena let out a frustrated breath and tried to bring her body temperature down as she imagined Damon having to put the tongue that had earlier been in question back into his mouth before he was able to answer her.

"Come in, Elena." Damon's smooth velvet voice purred in an even and slightly amused tone from the other side of the door. Elena felt her face flush and her heart sink into her stomach at Damon's words and could not believe that Damon would actually invite her into his room when he was obviously so incredibly busy entertaining someone else. Was this some part of his sick seduction? _Hey Elena, watch me fuck this girl and see how good I am at it. Then maybe after I'm done, I can fuck you too and show you how little morals you truly have._ Elena shook her head and tried to ignore the sadistic version of Damon's voice that was running through her head. She quickly straightened her body once again and cleared her throat.

"That's alright, I just…was having a hard time sleeping…with the noise and all." She finally spit out as she tried to put some space between herself and the door. There was another silence and then she finally heard the soft thud of bare feet against the polished wood floors. She considered running for a moment, but by the time she had made a firm decision on which direction to run to, the door in front of her slowly opened.

Elena stood in stunned silence as she stared in front of her at the image of Damon standing in his darkened doorway with a smile on his face that seemed far too inappropriate for words to describe. He was dressed in a pair of loose fitting black pants that were slung low on his hips and a black long sleeved button down shirt that hung open revealing what dedication to the gym (and possibly incredible genetics) truly created. Elena swallowed as she tried to find the anger that seemed to have evaporated the moment her eyes had locked on Damon and tried to control her breathing as she felt the urge to sink her teeth into the cords of muscles that were just a few inches out of her reach.

"I know you are…um…busy, but if you could just…" Elena mumbled as she felt her legs begin to tremble. Damon smiled as he opened the door to his room slightly wider and stepped to the side.

"Why don't you come in and once you cool off maybe you can tell me what you were so pissed off about a few minutes ago." Damon said smugly and suddenly Elena found a small piece of her logic as she narrowed her eyes at him and felt the need to hit him return once again. She kept her eyes locked on Damon, but ignored his invitation and stayed planted firm on the safety of the thick hallway carpeting.

"Are you coming in or are you going to stand in my doorway all night?" Damon asked as he stared at Elena's rigid frame. Elena shook her head.

"I have no desire to meet whoever it was that has been screaming like a cat in heat for the past half an hour." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest and jetted one of her hips out to the side. Damon bit back a laugh and cleared his throat as he crossed his arms over his chest to mirror her stance.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll like her. She is one of my favorites." He said with a devilish smile. Elena stared at him in awe and actually began to feel sorry for the woman on the other side of the door. How in the hell could he talk so casually about a woman that only a few minutes before he was obviously catapulting into space?

"You are such a pig Damon; I cannot believe you would…" Elena said as she stepped into the room before her with balled fists and a swift return of her previous anger before she looked around her and then immediately fell silent. Damon stood back from the door way and smiled as he watched Elena search his room in complete confusion.

The room that surrounded Elena was a large dimly lit master bedroom that looked like something that had been taken from a work of fiction rather than something that actually existed in her reality. A small fireplace was carved in jagged rough stone to her left, dark romantic paintings hung on the expansive walls and beautiful pieces of art adorned the many strategically placed tables throughout the room. Beautiful sepia drapes covered the two floor length windows across from her and there was an open doorway in the corner that she assumed led to the master bathroom. Finally, a large four poster bed sat just to the right of where Elena stood in silent admiration, covered in lush charcoal linens and scattered with stray papers and yellow file folders. The room was eerily silent and there was no sign of the woman with the impressive vocal cords that she had been so ready to kill only a few moments before. The room didn't have the smell of sweat or sex as she had expected, but instead the sweet smell of vanilla and bourbon that seemed to coat her skin like honey and warm her body in an instant. Elena shook herself from her confusion and shock of the newly discovered room and finally turned to Damon who had simply been watching her investigation of his bedroom since he had closed the door behind them.

"OK, I might be going insane." Elena said as she couldn't help but smile and feel completely ridiculous at the same time. Damon smiled and let out a slightly nervous sigh as he moved slowly from his door and closer to where Elena stood.

"Why would you say that?" He asked innocently as he leaned casually against the small leather sofa that sat just to the side of where Elena stood. Elena swallowed and shook her head as she looked toward Damon's bed and then back to him once again.

"I heard…noise…and so I thought…." She said as she felt herself become incredibly nervous and suddenly wished that she could just run back to Stefan's room and pretend that none of this ever happened. Damon smiled and bit his lip as he nodded slightly. He pushed himself up from the sofa and then reached down to the end table that sat next to him. He picked up a long sleek black remote and pointed it toward the wall just above the fireplace.

"Did you hear this noise?" He asked trying to hide his grin as his finger pressed a button and then suddenly the dark wall above the fireplace lit up and Elena saw a wide screen plasma television come into view.

_"Oh God, don't stop!"_ The familiar voice from only a few moments before screamed as a very graphic and intimate scene appeared on the television in front of Elena.

"Oh…wow." Elena said as she felt her cheeks begin to burn from the image of a dark skinned brunette writhing on what appeared to be a hotel bed with a blonde haired man's head buried between her thighs that played out on Damon's wall. Damon laughed and took a few steps closer to where Elena stood. He tilted his head to the side and raised one of his thick brows as he approached her.

"I take it you thought that I…had company?" He asked wearing the same bright and amused smile that he had been wearing since she had first appeared at his door. Elena let out a nervous laugh and looked down at the floor and away from the screen that seemed to be portraying a very intimate bedroom act that she hadn't personally experienced in quite some time and definitely didn't need a reminder of.

"Well, the thought crossed my mind, yes." She said as she kept her eyes glued to the floor as she let out a nervous laugh. Damon took a step forward and Elena took a small step backward.

"Would you like me to turn this off? You look like you just saw someone being disemboweled or something." He said still sounding very amused. Elena looked up and shrugged her shoulders as she tried to play as cool as she could.

"It's fine, I mean I have seen porn before, Damon. I just…it's hard to have a conversation with you to…that sound." She stuttered quietly as she pointed to the television she still wouldn't look at. Damon smiled as he raised the remote and pressed a button and suddenly the screen before them froze. Of course when Damon had asked her if she wanted him to turn it off, he couldn't have possibly meant he would actually turn it off. No, he meant he would pause it in the most erotic place possible and now even though Elena didn't have to listen to the sound of the woman screaming, she had to stare at the frozen picture of her bent backwards with a man's mouth attached to her vagina like it was freaking keeping him alive. Elena realized she should have just stayed in Stefan's room. That was a far safer place than where she was now.

"Alright, so my dirty movie is off and since you couldn't have a conversation with it on, please do tell me what brings you into my neck of the woods tonight. It has been a while since you've graced me with your presence, so I am all ears." Damon said as he threw the remote down on the leather sofa and then slowly started to make his way toward his overly sized bed. Elena let out a sigh and tried to search her mind for an answer, but was still preoccupied with the forty-two inch picture of delicious sin that Damon had plastered on his wall.

"I've been busy with mid-terms and now that they are over, I have some more free time. I know Stefan was upset that I wasn't around for a while, but I just didn't have any time to socialize with all of my assignments and studying." She said quickly as she moved slightly closer to the bed that Damon now sat on. Damon nodded as he kicked his legs up on the bed and slid the stack of folders to the side of his pillows. He leaned back against his oak headboard and lifted his eyes to meet Elena's.

"Stefan wasn't the only one upset that you weren't around." Damon said in a soft, but deep tone that sent shivers up Elena's spine. Elena swallowed thickly as she wrapped her arms tightly around her body and felt her heart speed up in her chest.

"We talked about this Damon." She said in a hushed tone that sounded weak even to her. Damon shook his head as he pressed his lips together in a hard line and she immediately could feel his body tense even from the distance at which she stood.

"No Elena, we texted about this. And, it really wasn't even that. It was one text, from you, in which you told me that you couldn't do whatever we were doing anymore because it wasn't fair to Stefan. You couldn't even call me; you sent me a message and then disappeared for a week." Damon said in a voice slightly louder than he had used before. Elena stepped closer to the bed against her better judgment and let out a sigh as she realized how childish she had acted earlier in the week.

"Look, I'm sorry that I didn't call you and tell you more personally that I couldn't do this anymore, but I just wanted to get it out there so that we could just move on. What we were doing was wrong Damon and you know that. I just couldn't keep doing that to Stefan or to you for that matter." She said softly. Damon faked a smile and tilted his head toward Elena as her last words escaped her lips.

"Couldn't do that to me? Exactly what did you think you were doing to me, Elena?" He asked in a sarcastic tone. Elena shifted her weight and felt her heart drop slightly in her chest. Maybe she had thought a little bit more deeply into what had happened over the past few months than Damon had and judging by his current expression that was exactly the case. She quickly straightened herself and matched his fake smile as she searched her brain for a decent lie.

"Nothing, I mean…I just didn't want to cause any more problems between you and Stefan than was already there. It doesn't matter now though. I mean are we going to be able to coexist here Damon?" Elena asked as she stepped closer to Damon so that her knee gently grazed the edge of the lush comforter that covered the king sized bed. A chill moved through her body and she instinctively stepped back. Something about being that close to Damon's bed felt forbidden and absolutely entrancing.

"Well first of all, Stefan and I are not going to get along no matter what you do and second…well I see no reason why we cannot coexist, Elena. We are both adults and I do really enjoy your company so I would like us to be able to be friends." Damon said as he stretched his hands behind his head allowing his shirt to fall open and his beautiful ivory skin to peak out from under the thin black material. Elena took in a deep breath and tried to fight the pull to stare at him so she quickly turned her head, but unfortunately her eyes landed back on the mounted television that still held the incredibly dirty image.

"I would like us to be friends too." She said softly as her eyes studied the screen in front of her. It wasn't that Elena had never seen porn before because after three years of college and a lengthy friendship with Caroline she definitely had. There was just something so incredibly erotic about seeing the images of something that Damon had described to her word for word over the phone as she had run her hands over her body that excited her in a way that made her shake slightly at the knees. She swallowed and nodded as she was sure she heard Damon speak and then finally turned her head back to him to see his amused eyes watching her intently.

"Amazing how hard it is to focus when something you want so desperately is so close to you, isn't it?" Damon asked in a dark voice with a smile still lingering on his lips. Elena narrowed her eyes and shifted her weight to her other foot as she felt an unwanted blush creep over her cheeks.

"Don't flatter yourself Damon." She said as she felt her face flush an even brighter shade of pink, but tried to keep strong to her previous commitment to being a good little girl that she had made earlier in the week. Damon sat up slightly on the bed and rubbed his fingers over the skin of his lips that Elena remembered to be soft and taste like liquor and honey.

"I wasn't talking about me, even though we both know how much you want me. I was talking about that." He said as he pointed toward the screen that Elena was once again trying to avoid. Elena felt her stomach become uneasy and her skin get hot as her eyes returned to the screen and then she quickly rolled her eyes at Damon in defense.

"I don't want to watch porn, Damon. If I wanted to watch porn I would simply buy some and watch it." She said as she let out what she hoped sounded like an annoyed sigh and not a desperate moan that seemed more fitting of how she truly felt. Damon smiled as he pushed himself up from the bed and Elena felt her breathing pick up as she noticed he was making his way toward her.

"No, Elena I am talking about this." He said as he picked up the remote from the small table he had left it on as he made his way toward her and pushed the play button once again.

_"Oh god, please…lick my pussy."_ The woman on the screen begged as her back arched further and sweat beaded down her bare skin. Damon hit the remote again and the screen froze once again. Elena swallowed as her mouth went dry and she rolled her eyes as she took a few steps closer to the door and prayed for the courage to run.

"Cute Damon, really. But, don't worry; if I want…that…I have a boyfriend so it's not a problem." She said with mock confidence as she held Damon's gaze and smiled sarcastically. Elena mentally congratulated herself for reminding Damon that she did have a boyfriend and hoped that she had planted an image in his head to piss him off for the next few days. But, instead of anger, Damon's expression looked amused and as he moved toward her he looked like a lion stalking his prey. At that point, Elena knew she should have just run. This conversation was going nowhere good fast and she feared it was about to lead to something that would be much worse than a couch make out.

"Oh, I think it is a problem, Elena. I think it's a big problem because of the fact that your sweet little boyfriend doesn't do that." Damon said in a mockingly sympathetic tone as he stopped just in front of where Elena stood. Elena laughed and rolled her eyes once again as she felt her hands begin to shake both from anger and her nearly fried nerves.

"You have no idea what my boyfriend does or doesn't do, Damon." She said as she tried to sound strong, but felt her voice falter as she said Damon's name. Damon laughed and took another step closer.

"So he does, then?" He asked in a sarcastic tone. Elena sighed and finally dropped her eyes to the floor as her carefully placed shield seemed to shake around her. The voices inside of her screamed at her to lie her ass off and then run from Damon's room and never look back, but whenever her conscience (or whatever it was that seemed to preach to her on a daily basis) said something even relatively intelligent, it was as if Elena ignored it just to see how much of a mess she could truly make.

"It's none of your business, Damon." Elena said in nearly as whisper. It took only a moment and even though Elena's eyes were still on the floor and she had tried to block out the very presence of Damon in that room, the air around her seemed to change in an instant. She watched as Damon's bare feet moved closer to hers and then suddenly she felt the soft warm breeze of his breath against her face.

"Look at me, Elena." Damon said in a much softer tone than he had used before. Elena stared at the floor and shook her head, but did not say a word. She didn't know why she felt embarrassed when she knew that she couldn't possibly be the only woman in America whose boyfriend didn't go downtown, but something about Damon's questioning made her feel incredibly uneasy.

"Elena?" Damon's voice purred and just as the words left his lips; Elena felt the soft pads of his fingertips under her chin. He lifted her chin slowly and suddenly their eyes locked and Elena's embarrassment seemed to leave as fast as it had come.

"So what if he doesn't?" She asked in a soft voice and she realized that she was headed down a bad path, a familiar path, but a bad path nonetheless. Damon tilted his head as he studied her hurt expression.

"No matter how much it pains me to say this because trust me; I really don't want to help my brother in anyway get between your legs, but why don't you just tell him that is what you want? Men like a woman that is vocal and some men are stupid enough to pretty much need written instructions on how to get someone other than themselves off." Damon said softly with a slight edge of humor in his voice and suddenly Elena felt as if she were back in his office the year before, just having a much dirtier version of therapy this time.

"I have, Damon. He's not into it and frankly there is plenty of stuff that I am not into either, so it's not a big deal." She said quickly as she tried to pull her eyes away from Damon's, but found it impossible as usual. Damon rubbed his fingers over Elena's chin as he studied her face and completely ignored the idea of personal space.

"It is a big deal because you think that because he won't do it, there is something wrong with you. Trust me; there is nothing wrong with you Elena." Damon said as his fingers traveled over Elena's jaw. Elena felt a chill move through her body and she tried to summon her strength that she knew was buried somewhere deep inside of her.

"Look Damon, I really need to get back to bed. I appreciate your free of charge therapy session, but Stefan and I are fine. I don't need some guy's tongue wrapped around my clit to justify my purpose in life. Sex is great, but it's not everything. Maybe you need to see a shrink to help you with your obsession with an act that is purely physical and only lasts about fifteen minutes." Elena said bitterly as she stepped back from Damon and tried to pull her shields back up around her. Damon stared at her in silence, but he did not look angry, he seemed to more be evaluating every move she made. That fact alone made her even more pissed than she already had become.

"First of all, you and Stefan are not fine otherwise you would not be in my room at one o'clock in the morning trying to figure out if I am fucking someone else. Second of all, I do not believe that sex is everything, but I do believe it is a large part of who we are. Those that give in to their desires and act out their deepest fantasies, those are the people that go after their desires in the real world and turn their dreams into reality. Those that ignore what they want and lock it away in a neat little box so that they can appear to be Miss Merry Fucking Sunshine, well those people are liars and will never have what they truly want because they are too afraid to go out and get it." Damon said in a stern tone as he stared at Elena. Elena rolled her eyes.

"Well don't you just know everything about everything? Dr. Salvatore: psychiatrist, sex expert and life coach. Giving orgasms while stealing souls since nineteen ninety eight!" Elena yelled as she threw up her arms and started moving closer to the door once again. Damon moved closer to her this time.

"It was nineteen ninety seven, to be exact and is that what this is really about Elena? Are you scared that if you actually give in to what is so fucking obvious that you want that I am just going to rip you to shreds and then disappear?" He asked as he stared at her in what appeared to be slight shock. Elena swallowed; there was no way he was getting in her head, not tonight.

"God, you just think you are God's gift to everything, don't you? You think that the only reason that I won't sleep with you is because I am so afraid that I will fall head over heels in love with you and then be driven to depression when you inevitably leave me for the next teenager that walks into your office! Well, I got news for you Damon. It could also be the fact that I have a fucking boyfriend and maybe I don't want to sleep with you nearly as much as you think I do!" She yelled as she stepped forward for once and challenged Damon's now cold eyes. That apparently got Damon's attention because he stepped forward to. He stared her down for a moment silently and then licked his lips before he spoke.

"The fact that you have a boyfriend has nothing to do with why you won't sleep with me. You don't love Stefan, if you loved him you wouldn't be here. And for the record Elena, I have no question about how much you want to sleep with me. It is written all over your face…and various other parts of your body." Damon said loudly as he eyes remained locked on Elena's. Elena laughed and then put one of her hands on her hips as she tried to act as if Damon had no idea what he was talking about. It was really such a shame that he had become a psychiatrist because that man could have made bank as a mind reader.

"Oh really? Please do tell me then exactly how much I want you." Elena challenged in a sarcastic voice as she stared at Damon. Damon smiled and rubbed his fingers over his lips and then took a final step that brought him close enough to her that Elena could once again feel his warm breath on her face.

"Elena, you want me so badly that nearly every thought you have had ever since you saw me again at the Grill last weekend, has been about me. You dream about me, you fantasize about me and you still run your fingers over that amazing body of yours and choke back my name as you come. You want me so bad that I can tell when you are in the same room with me that you cannot look me in the eye for too long because you are afraid that I will notice how flushed your skin is and how when my hand grazes yours, even on accident you get goose bumps over your entire body. You want me more than you have ever wanted another man, but deep down you think it is wrong to want me, so you are trying to lock it up inside yourself. But I got news for you honey, you can only keep it locked up for so long before you explode. But, I do have the most important reason for how I know how much you want me, if that is something you would like to hear before you scamper off to bed?" Damon asked in a sarcastic tone as he smiled at Elena. Elena let out a sigh and then shrugged her shoulders.

"Sure, why not? This is already going so great, why stop it now?" She asked rhetorically as she waited for Damon's witty response, but as she looked up at Damon she noticed that his expression had changed. He no longer smiled at her with a malicious smile and his eyes were much softer than they had been a few minutes before. He lifted his hand and once again moved a piece of Elena's hair that had fallen from her ponytail and tucked it behind her ear.

"I know exactly how much you want me, Elena because it is exactly how much I want you. Hell, if I'm truly being honest, I probably want you a little bit more because while you were able to stay away for a week and come out on the other side, I have been going insane since I had you on that couch. I swear I can still taste you on my lips." Damon said in almost a whisper. Elena's mouth went dry and her body began to shake. Alarms were going off inside her head telling her to run and finally she decided that maybe it was time to listen to them.

"Damon, I have to go. I'm sorry, but I have to go, I can't do this." Elena said quickly as she began to move quickly toward the door. Damon stared at her as fear consumed her eyes. Elena opened the door and then quickly began to mall walk down the hallway. She first thought to escape to Stefan's room, but there was no way she would be able to sleep now. So, she opted for a second option.

Elena threw open the door to the guest bathroom that was just between Damon and Stefan's bedrooms. She closed the door loudly behind her and ripped off her clothes as she quietly cursed herself for ever stepping foot in Damon's bedroom when she knew that it was going to be a mistake all along. Finally, when all of her clothing lay scattered across the bathroom floor, Elena finally opened the shower curtain and began to run ice cold water that would hopefully bring her back to reality and her much misses good senses. Elena took in a deep breath and finally stepped under the cool spray as she tried to rid herself of any evidence that Damon could ever count as her wanting him. It was funny though as she leaned back against the shower wall and started to relax under the cool water, she could have sworn she heard heavy footsteps making their way down the hallway towards her.

**Alright, so I finally got another chapter up for Into The Blue. What did we all think? No smut in this chapter, but I swear some is coming. I am trying to watch what I do, I made a little story mistake today and did a little D/E/S action and lets just say it did not go over well. So, I have learned what the people do not like and therefore you can rest assured my stories will only be having one partner at a time**** So please let me know if my writing is ever too smutty and I need to tone it down because I definitely will, I love the feedback from everyone. Hopefully everyone is still reading and I hope you are enjoying. I do want to let you know that I will be updating You and I by probably Thursday and that I am starting to work on updates to my other stories since I know that some are frustrated that I have started many projects and not finished them. I want to thank you all for reading, please let me know how you liked this chapter and give me any feedback you have. Thanks! Please review!**


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